Like a Party Balloon

I've been thinking lately about ego. I have sufficient ego when it comes to many of my qualities—my intellect, my education, my acting, my speaking, my writing—but the area where it'd be most useful is the one area where I have an ego deficit. I want to grow my ego in that area—some (including me) might even say I need to; ego is part of self-confidence—but I've found it to be difficult.

An ego is an awful lot like a party balloon; the kind you blow up. It's like this:

• It's pretty difficult getting a balloon started. Until it's reached a certain size, it takes a lot of energy to inflate.
• Once a balloon is up to a certain size, it gets easier to blow up bigger.
• After it's reached that size, it's pretty tough for a while.
• If you keep blowing a balloon up, it reaches a point where the skin is thin and delicate, and it's easily burst.
• If you continue to inflate it beyond that point, eventually the balloon will pop.

Do you see the parallel? Like a party balloon, an ego:

• Is difficult to get started. It takes a lot of work to inflate it to a reasonable size.
• Gets easier to blow up bigger once it reaches a certain size.
• Is tough when it's not overinflated.
• Becomes delicate and is easily burst if it's overinflated.
• Can be blown up to the point where it self-destructs.

I'm at the "getting it started" phase.