I don\'t know if sharing a similar experience I had will help at all but it might, you\'re story just hit close to home. Last week I flew to Florida to visit some family. I get a little nervous before take-off, as many people do, and was tapping my right leg a little to help release the nervous energy. Well, when 2 flight attendants noticed they asked if I was nervous and I replied \”just a little, for take-off\”. Once I said that, they both berated me for being seated in an emergency exist aisle, they went on to raise their voices at me in front of several other passengers for \”endangering the lives of 177 passengers\” all because I was a little nervous and apparently couldn\'t handle the responsibilities of an emergency exit row. Keep in mind, during all this I repeated several times that I didn\'t know I wasn\'t allowed to sit there as nervous flyer and I was more than happy to move. They continued this for a good 5 minutes while I sat there with tears of embarrassment, and now much more fear, streaming down my face. I felt childish, weak, victimized and VERY scared/claustrophobic. But then I had a few minutes to think about it and realized, you know what, there are just some mean and rude people in the world. That situation was a reflection of how ignorant and in-compassionate those flight attendants were, not a reflection of me being \”weak\” for feeling scared and making a simple error. That situation was a result of their short-comings, not mine. And honestly, I think it\'s easy to focus on the mean-spirited people but it\'s important to focus on the wonderful and kind people too, even if it feels like they are in shorter supply. For instance, I had really nice flight attendants on my return flight that didn\'t feel the need to switch my seat, and were actually quite kind and funny. Forget the miserable people, they are not worth hanging on too because in reality, they are already probably living a life that is just as miserable as them. You know what they say, misery loves company. Oh and also, it helped me to practice being assertive, aggression got me no where and holding back only increased my anxiety. I tried to talk to the flight attendants (after taking a few deep breaths and calming my fear.rage) to tell them I was more than happy to cooperate and move but as a nervous flyer could have used a bit more compassion and support, they weren\'t really willing to hear me but I felt better because I defended myself. As we got off the plane, I told them that I hoped if they were ever in a situation where they were scared or vulnerable, that someone shows them more compassion than they showed to me.