I’m not a pilot, but I thought I might put my two cents worth in… I think the main thing that makes me anxious, like Avman said, is really, fear of the unknown… you don’t know whether it’s going to get worse or better, or which way the aircraft is going to go.
My worst experience of turbulence would be from KUL to SYD last year… from the time we crossed the Australian coast, until about 30 mins out from Sydney, i.e 4hrs 30mins… we had moderate CAT, which had everyone belted and in their seats pretty much the whole time, and the cabin crew in theirs for about two hours of it… about half of this time was in darkness, making it all the more worse… didn’t help that there was very little communication from the flight deck either… (which I’ve found tends to be quite the norm with E Asian carriers)…
I’m usually ok if it’s turbulence on takeoff or landing… it’s usually the mid-flight turbulence that sends the fear through me…. I tend to just try and look out the window, if possible!