WORCESTER, Mass. - As thousands of daily flights continue, some travelers have the victims of the tragic mid-air crash in Washington D.C. on their minds.

“It's sad what happened and hopefully it doesn't happen again," Worcester Regional Airport traveler Richard Mankiewicz said. "And all my prayers and thoughts to the families.”

While many people experience a fear of flying, Mankiewicz said he isn’t one of them.

“No, I've flown for my career all over the world," Mankiewicz said. "It doesn't bother me; taking off or landing. It's safer than driving in a car. So, I'm good with everything.”

Whether flying has always caused some stress, or you’re experiencing new anxiety over this week’s tragedy, Dr. Tracie Goodness, a UMass Memorial Health clinical psychologist, said the feelings are normal to have.

“It's not indicative that it's any kind of a disorder that needs to seek immediate treatment," Goodness said. "It's a very normal thing to have emotions, even strong negative emotions, anxiety or distress when a tragedy like this occurs.”

Goodness said things like not going to work, cancelling plans, or having a hard time getting out of bed are signs of the stress being more severe

“If people kind of find themselves getting stuck in the news cycle, being unable to look away, they start to seek out information on statistics of plane crashes and safety, and it's just really, really stuck; that's when it might become a little bit more problematic," Goodness said. "But any time we're thinking about folks who are struggling with anxiety or distress, we always look at how long those symptoms last and then any kind of distress that it causes the person and impairment.”

If the physical sensations of taking off, landing, or turbulence are what brings you stress, Goodness said those feelings are so close to anxiety, our bodies interpret them as anxiety. And sometimes trying to avoid the stress might actually make it a little bit worse.

“Counterintuitively, avoiding-avoidance, getting familiar with that feeling of anxiety, knowing that that's very normal, that can kind of take away some of the power of that," Goodness said. "And so just kind of getting comfort with the discomfort.”

It may also help to talk about any fears of being on a plane with a frequent flyer.

“Don't think about it," Mankiewicz said. "Watch a movie, chew some gum."

Dr. Goodness said if you are feeling anxious for an extended amount of time, make sure you're reaching out to others, taking a break, and taking care of yourself. And she said if things continue to get worse, there's a lot of great resources available in our community.