INFORMATION

So yeah, people. Yours truly has a balloon phobia. 

While people in general accept fear of heights, flying, blood or insects as normal, ones fear of balloons is often considered as a laughable or irrational subject matter. At least, my husband laughed at me and thought I was silly when he found out that I am afraid of balloons and tend to avoid places that have a lot balloons. I am certain that more people will label me as mental after they discover this particular phobia of mine. Nonetheless, I am not too bothered with that as I am really afraid of balloons and appreciate if you dont put me in a position where I have to deal with insane amount of balloons, ok. Thanks in advance. Haha.

Take these for examples. I get really stressed when people distribute balloons in the malls especially when I am with Naomi because obviously she would ask for one. I hate it when I have to wander around the mall with kids, or my kid, holding a balloon. Also, I experience heart palpitations when I think of balloons, let alone if there is a balloon in my car. If Naomi happens to hold a balloon she received from a promoter in the mall, I usually sneakily leave it somewhere before we get on the car. Once, I secretly kept Naomis balloon in the store room until it deflated on its own because I didnt want to see Naomi play with it at home. *Poor Naomi*

Next, before we held Naomis 3rd birthday party, I contemplated for weeks whether I should come clean and tell Naomis teacher if he could make Naomis birthday party balloon-less because I have a balloon phobia. I thought that move would be selfish because Naomi loves balloons just like other kids thus I kept quiet. As such, I pretended that nothing happened when more than 15 kids ran around with long colourful balloons during the party (dang, many balloons eventually popped too!). Deep inside, I was dying, man. 

Whenever possible, I really dont want to go to places that feature tons of balloons -- Now I wonder how I survived my wedding reception in Malaysia as our stage decoration was made of tons of white and pink balloons and children went gaga with the balloons on stage. I must have been out of my mind to endure that semi balloon-themed wedding party then.

Further, I could not stand the sound of people or kids squeezing or rubbing inflated balloons - as if its going to burst in front of my face any time soon and give me heart attack. Deflated balloons are harmless to me but I do feel very anxious and agitated the moment I see someone starts inflating balloons or throwing balloons in the air too. In summary, I fear the sight, thought and feel of balloons. And the feeling when I am exposed to balloon(s) can go from simply uneasy all the way to immense stress. 

Is this normal? 

I dont know. Maybe yes. Maybe no. However, I reckon there are some people who share the same morbid sentiments of any sort of balloons as me.

I did some internet reading about fears of balloons and apparently there is a scientific term for it. Balloon phobia is also known as Globophobia and Oprah Winfrey is one of the sufferers.

When did it start? 

No idea.. It surely is not an overnight thing and I dont know why it happens to me.

Not sure. My husband heard that a therapy can actually fix ones phobia but I dont think I need one lah. Just let this be... As long as no one hands me or asks me to be anywhere near balloons, I will be fine.

Anyway, I am sharing this topic because I realized that I have a friend who has the same phobia and feel like writing about people who actually dont fancy balloons - at all.

Now that I have come out of the closet with my confession on my embarrassing phobia, do you also have any uncommon phobia to share too?