While sitting at work tonight and trying to digest Greek on Wheels that W and I ordered as we plug through all our work, I wanted to do a little light reading of my fav blogs as I mowed down. I came across a new blog, the Bachelor Guy, and a list of phobias you should never admit to having to a woman.
It got me thinking. I have really two phobias of which one is kinda the result of the other. I don't like loud noises because I get scared easily. And as some of you have had explained by moi, when I get scared, I actually have a physical reaction to the fear. Sure, it's normal for your heart to race and your breathing to quicken as the adrenaline rushes through your body but for me, I actually feel pain when I get scared. Yes, pain. Imagine your entire body - literally from scalp to tootsies - being filled with the worst pins and needles of your life. Combine that with the urge to breath quickly, which hurts because of the pins and needles, but having a hard time doing so because your chest constricts and you feel paralyzed for a good 15-20 seconds. So while y'all are laughing your asses off because you jumped out from around the corner and 'boo'ed me when we were having a conversation just seconds before, I'm in actual, physical pain. And while some people enjoy the adrenaline rush from that, you can bet your bottom dollar, I ain't one of them.
The other fear I have, which I know is completely irrational but I don't care, is that of balloons. Yes, balloons. At my 6th birthday party at McDonald's, we played a game where the first person to pop their balloon from sitting on it won. I became so hysterical my mother had to take me out to the parking lot and calm me down before she could return me to my own birthday party. From that moment on, I've been terrified of balloons to the point, as a child, to refuse entry into a house for a birthday party until all balloons were removed from sight. I'm trying to overcome it as an adult and I'm fine usually if balloons stay mounted to walls or ceilings but the anxiety that I'm still in the room with them means I'm uncomfortable regardless of how good the chocolate cake is. And the moment people start playing with them or moving them around, I tense up like, well, I can't even think of what. There's not much else that I react to like that.
What I didn't know is that there is actually a phobia name for people like myself. We suffer from globophobia. Interesting, non? Here's an article written about it. The one paragraph hits my phobia right on the head:
'While some people who suffer from this phobia say it's just balloons in general that they fear, others say it's not so much the balloons themselves that they fear, it's the fear of the balloons popping, which can also be categorized in with the fear of loud noises or ligyrophobia.'
I guess technically, I suffer from both globophobia and ligyrophobia as I still flush toilets in public washrooms by pushing an ear to my shoulder, plugging the other ear with my finger and using the ear-pushed-to-shoulder arm/hand to flush. This is where I'm glad you can't see me in public washrooms. And why? All because I find the noise of the toilet flushing to be upsetting. It's also why I'll actually try and hold it as long as possible if I know I'm going home soon. Why have to suffer that loud noise if I don't absolutely have to? Hand dryers and I are also not friends.
And why am I telling you this? Why not? At least next time you'll understand when you ask me to help you clean up after a birthday party why I try and get the hell out of the room with the balloons in it as fast as possible before some insensitive ass starts popping them with scissors. Because you KNOW that those type of people take enjoyment out of seeing them go pop and may just be the types to also try and pop them in my face.
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