How do you feel about fireworks?

[Ceebs]

12 hours ago, AspiringAutistic said:

Absolutely love them as visual stimming

Yeah, basically that for me. 
 

12 hours ago, AspiringAutistic said:

but they can become too much for me

I get that with other loud noises. Like @Philip027 I'm very easily startleable (is that a word?) and will pretty much jump out of my skin, but I think fireworks are ok for me because I'm anticipating the sound and it isn't constant. I also think being visually startled bothers me more than sounds tbh, like someone walking into a room suddenly. Other situations with very loud sounds can be a lot though. I really love live music when I'm able to get to concerts and the like, but I've had a number of experiences where feeling it in my whole body... the sound, the vibrations, the visuals, whatever... overwhelms me and I feel like I'm going to panic. It's annoying because there's basically a tipping point, and before that I love and and after that it's far too much. When I'm home alone, I love listening to music on my headphones at volumes that are probably not healthy and completely losing myself in the sound and the rhythm and all that, but concerts are a mixed bag. I'm quite sensitive to sensory input, and the stuff I love, I really love... and the stuff I hate feels unbearable (like the sound of the air conditioner I mentioned in my other post above, plus a lot of types of touch that are either wonderful or awful). I've got better at finding ways to deal with the 'too much' at concerts, but I really remember the first time it felt like it was freaking me out. I was 19 and went to what was actually a small folk music gig with my mum and dad... I was already really hyped up cos it was my favourite musician we were seeing (yes I was a teenage folk music nerd)... but he plays both acoustic and electric guitar, and some of the electric guitar stuff is very intense. Which I love when I listen to his albums, but I recall sitting there in the audience and feeling the whole floor of the small venue vibrating and it made me very anxious and a bit dissociative. Since then I've been to some really massive concerts (my ex-husband and I saw Pink at the Air Canada Centre in 2018, and holy hell that was intense and her shows are very visually stimulating as well) and my threshold has changed, but atmospheres like that still stress me out cos I'm never quite sure when it's going to reach the 'too much' point.

[J. van Deijck]

22 hours ago, SpaceDustbin said:

(semi-illegal) fireworks in the hands of teenagers or drunk people: not so great.

This. There are some people in my area who think it's fun to start fireworks around Christmas and continue after New Year's.  Fun fact: fireworks are forbidden in my city. I still remember that failed New Year's drone show every newspaper was writing about 😂

 

At least my cats don't bother. They just sleep.

[TormentDubz]

Love em

[J. van Deijck]

3 hours ago, Baasje said:

fireworks are forbidden in my city.

Wait, it's not really true. After that failed drone show they came back to fireworks 😂 

[Guest]

I despise fireworks. They mean that I have to sleep with my clunky pair of ear defenders in and that hurts my head. But I have no other choice because otherwise I will have a meltdown from the sound. Sometimes even my ear defenders aren’t enough to help and I can’t fall asleep. Once I forgot them at home because we went to my grandparents and I spent an hour jumping at every bang and crying and desperately watching Wild Kratts to calm myself down. Fireworks are a reminder that no one cares about me. They’re another thing that reminds me that the world doesn’t care about being accessible and never will. So then they can set off my depression. If every firework in the world disappeared tomorrow, I would be happy.

[Adora128]

I absolutely despise fireworks.

 

Last year, I was at a Christmas party thing with my entire town and at the end of the night there was a firework display on the soccer fields. Long story short - the fireworks went haywire and exploded a lot of shit. A few people were hospitalised and I managed to run away from it fast enough and my sister was okay as well (it took me like 30 mins to find her after as it was pitch black because they turned the lights off for the fireworks (there were like 500 people there too)). Very traumatic. Do not recommend.

[-Lexa-]

I have weird scary neighbors who literally set off cannons randomly throughout the year, so I’m both used to loud sounds and get scared out of my skin whenever it happens. It’s so close the house literally shakes when it happens.I like how fireworks look, I think they’re pretty, but they are much too loud. And they sound like cannons. 

[AlsoKnownAs]

Today's the fourth of July
Another June has gone by
And when they light up our town I just think
What a waste of gunpowder and sky . . .

Aimee Mann, Fourth of July

[harmonic turquoise]

I understand that fireworks can be challenging for some. I recently shared a video on AVEN of a local fireworks display. Personally, I enjoy the spectacle of fireworks, but I'm not a fan of large crowds. I prefer to watch fireworks from a quieter spot, away from the hustle and bustle.

[Grumpy Alien]

They’re boring. Never seen the appeal.

[Blue eyes white dragon]

I do enjoy them, even know how to make them. But lately it has been a little hard to watch and hear them cuz it reminds me of a past event

[a little annihilation]

the visuals are nice. not so much the sound. i was in Los Angeles for the fourth of July this year and i just wanted them to stop. 

[nickolekuebler]

I get scared when I hear them and don't expect it. I want to jump in a foxhole and start looking for the enemy. I do like the visuals though they are pretty but terrible when you're not expecting it. 

[thegreatwolf]

My feelings are complicated on fireworks if they're planned shows they can be fun ( though hiccups can still happen as I've seen this year's july 4th celebration at the community center at my subdivision where one fell over as it was lit on a tennis court and some bits also fell into the swimming pool too) , ones done by individuals make me nervous ever since I saw a dumpster near a business,  close to my old apartment , catch fire thanks to a bottle rocket a few years back , not to mention the noise can startle me due noise sensitivity. Also uneasy about sparklers too ,due to stepping on a metal one once as a kid.

[harmonic turquoise]

11 hours ago, thegreatwolf said:

 Also uneasy about sparklers too ,due to stepping on a metal one once as a kid.

I can relate to your feelings about sparklers. They bring back memories of childhood trauma for me. I once picked up a hot piece of char that fell to the ground after the sparkler went off and I got burned. It's a reminder that fireworks can hold both beauty and danger in their display.

[timewarp]

I love professional fireworks, but otherwise life is better without them.

[Starry Sky]

I hate them yet will still agree to join others for fireworks shows. They're far too loud and I don't really find them to be that pretty most of the time. 

[Mult]

My dog is scared of fireworks,so my experience with them is now mostly comforting him

[KVA1983]

I enjoy fireworks, I was always merizmered by "The Catherine Wheel" such a basic firework but it just always caught my attention. 

 

I do love the large event fireworks in Scotland, some of them are outstanding.

[Delusory]

On 8/6/2023 at 9:13 AM, Ceebs said:

I love light in general, and colour. Whether it's candles, strings of twinkly lights, fireworks, sparklers, Christmas displays, bonfires, other types of colourful light shows, fires in the fireplace, glowsticks, just gazing at city lights from a good vantage point, all of it. I just really love light, colour, fire... anything that makes things feel kind of magical, festive, etc. I really like quietly observing things like that, it's not at all that I'm a party person lol.

I relate to this very much. I find lights almost hypnotizing and can stare at them for hours. 

 

As for fireworks I enjoy the visuals, despise the audio. Especially the weeks surrounding Christmas / New Years make me feel like I'm living in a warzone. They go on and on day and night. They are dangerous to animals too.