If you had plans to travel by air for Christmas or New Year’s, chances are you are among the tens of thousands of passengers whose flights have been canceled over the last week.
Since last Wednesday, more than 20,000 flights across the U.S. have been canceled due to weather, airline and airport disruptions, according to an ABC News analysis of data from flight-tracking service FlightAware.
The issues are expected to continue through at least the end of the week.
Instead of becoming stressed, panicked or anxious about delayed or canceled flights, experts offered advice on what you can do to stay calm.
First, accept that you may be stressed, says Dr. Aaron Brinen, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “So constantly [check] in with yourself and see if I’m really overwhelmed right now,” he said. “Because there’s times where our brain thinks that we’re fine, but we feel like we’re about to explode.”
Brinen added that it’s OK for people to say they are frustrated or sad by the mass cancellations and not get stressed or anxious by feeling this way. “Acceptance shouldn’t be confused with saying it’s acceptable,” he said, “So acceptance is saying this situation is the way it is right now, I can’t change the fact that I’m frustrated or sad, but it won’t be this way forever.”
Dr. Luana Marques, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, told ABC News it’s helpful to “shift the perspective” so you focus on doing something that helps you feel better.
Of course, listening to your favorite music and meditating can help, too: Listening to your favorite music can release a chemical called dopamine in the brain that makes you feel good, research shows.