Episode 27: Irrational Fears (Part Three)

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I developed an irrational fear of balloons sometime in my childhood. Honestly I don't like any unexpectedly loud noises – I get this clenched up feeling in my back and shoulders whenever motorcycles speed by making a bunch of noise, or when I’m in a club where the music is so loud you can’t think.  But balloons sort of developed into a bigger dislike, I don't even like holding a balloon or being around it, because when it inevitably pops, it's going to be loud, and I’m going to clench up, and I just really hate it.

I’m not sure if it was all the games we played as kids where you split in two teams and try to pop a balloon before the other team does, or if I like had a balloon popped in my face as a kid and it scarred me subconsciously, but I really hate balloons. When I was in school and we’d have to pop a balloon for some reason or another, I’d always always find a way to avoid being in the room, and eventually I used to just start leaving whenever someone brought a balloon around.

The other day I was at my gallery shop here in Portland, preparing for an event, and one of the other gallery owners of another space offered me some of the balloons from a party he’d had there the night before. It was such a nice thing to do! And I also wanted people to be able to find my event since we’re a little tucked away, but when I took the balloons from him I got that same feeling, the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood up, and my stomach did a little flip, and I realized that I’ve been scared of balloons for my entire life, and I really don’t know why.  But, I guess everyone has something, right?