"Helium Hand" can be described as an affliction where no matter what the request or who it is from, the person has the uncontrollable urge to say yes or to volunteer. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great things that come with having a Helium Hand. You get a lot of opportunities, and people see you as reliable and responsible. However, if you’re anything like me, your Helium Hand can get you into a lot of trouble.

The problem with having a Helium Hand is your inability to say no, even when you don’t want to do something. Your hand automatically rises to the occasion. This can include anything from going into work on your day off, volunteering time you don’t have to bake for a bake sale, or driving way out of the way to pick up or drop off someone. The list goes on for forever, and I could single-handedly name a billion things I have done that could go on it. Now, my hand has a mind of its own when I volunteer to do things, but you’d think that it would take into consideration my schedule. I work, I babysit and I have some sort of social life, but my hand doesn’t seem to care at all. So I find myself constantly fighting the clock. I hate to disappoint people, but I legitimately stress myself out by trying to do everything.

That’s another issue entirely. My inability to say no means that I am constantly in crunch time. I fly high on adrenaline. The issue I face with this is that when I find a rare moment to breathe or relax, I absolutely cannot. I have to find something with which I can busy myself. This just leads to volunteering to do more.

As a freshman in college, I think this Helium Hand of mine gave me some problems. They all warned me not to bite off more than I could chew. Unfortunately, I have a chronic fear of saying the word “no." Honestly, I handled it fine. My grades were good, and I got everything done on time. However, I noticed that while all of my friends were going out or doing fun things, I almost always had a meeting to go to or an event to attend. I made friends this way, and they are absolutely the best, but I cannot help but wonder who I missed out on meeting. Was I so caught up in my theatre performances or my student government meetings that I let important moments or experiences pass me by? I don’t know. Maybe.

While I definitely see all of the issues with biting off more than I can chew, I don’t see myself changing my behavior any time soon. I worry about what I’ve missed, but the people I have met, the time we’ve spent together and the opportunities I have had as a result of my inability to put my hand down make it all worthwhile.

If you find that you relate to this idea of Helium Hands, I’d like to propose an experiment. What if we took a chance and sat on our hands for a while? Maybe everything would be different. Maybe other people would rise to fill our shoes as the jacks of all trades. Perhaps we’d find a new love for letting other people take the reigns for a while.