Do you get balloons?
If so, how do you feel around them?
How do you feel if or when that balloon slowly floats away from your grasp?
Mom bought a balloon (the type that’s all chrome-shiny on the inside) for me from the giftshop at school when she came to pick me up.
While its a nice balloon, with colorful “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” and streamers on both sides, it still reminds me of a nagging feeling that I get whenever I see a balloon.
I have a fear of balloons floating away.
No, I don’t think its a phobia, but its close.
Even I don’t know why I have such a thing concerning balloons. It’s like, even if the balloon is weighted down by the string just enough to keep it from making its oh-so-inevitable ascent into aerospheres unknown.
See, if I see a balloon escape from some 4-year-old’s hand, a desperate urge to grab the balloon before its too late wells up inside of me.
I’ve grown in recent years to ignore the impulse, but it is still aware of the sight of a balloon (even if the balloon isn’t in any “danger”).
And even if I ignore the impulse, I still watch that balloon with a great deal of internal despondency.
It’s like….I just let that balloon go, I couldn’t save it from forever floating away from the grasp of that child.
Or is it because that balloon is a persona of some kind?
Is it because it is going to a place to whence I cannot go?
Is the balloon somehow tied to my fear of death?
Your balloon floating away phobia
My son, now 6 1/2 has had a desperate fear of balloons floating away –for at least since his 4 year old birthday party. I don’t know when this fear started, but it manifested that day. His little friend grabbed a balloon from the house and brought it outside to let it go (he thought it was a blast). My son fell apart and was inconsolable. The worst time was at another little boy’s birthday party at the park. A little boy let a balloon go and my son cried for over 2 hours. It was really sad and very concerning.
I don’t know about the fear of death because my son worries about “living forever” (we talk about Jesus and heaven has come up in conversations), and that numbers don’t have an end (to console him my husband has made up a huge number to say that is the last number).
My thought is that it is a brain overload in trying to conceive of the expanse of the universe, the idea of eternity, and the fact that there are things that don’t have an end…the balloon just floats forever. I pray that this fear dissipates and that he does not suffer from life long anxiety.
my five year old has recently exhibited this fear
the first time he cried when it floated away.. i consoled him, then the very next day he got another balloon and sadly it floated away by accident. He was inconsolable and begged me to get another but i couldnt b.c we had 3 kids already packed up in the car, etc. I found out a week later that he was crying in class, sobbing over loosing his balloon. a few weeks later he almost fell apart at disneyland because he thought my husband did not tie his balloon tight enough and might fly away.. i’m wondering what this is all about, does anyone know a name for this? Thanks!