Author pictured above.
When I was younger, there was one holiday that could put a smile on my face no matter the day or month. It wasn’t Christmas (even though I loved the idea of getting new, shiny things) and it wasn’t Valentine’s Day (because I think I knew by a young age those 30-pack V-Day cards would get old real quick), it was Halloween. Halloween always brought to mind a time and place in the year where I was allowed to be anyone or thing that my child’s heart desired. Interestingly enough, with the mutitude of options available I often chose to be a witch. While I’m pretty sure I just thought it would be cool to operate under the illusion that I could do magic, perhaps this costume choice appealed to me for deeper reasons. Perhaps, by adopting the stature of a confident and all powerful witch, I was projecting a desire I had to be that woman who possessed the power to determine her fate at the tips of her fingers and who feared no one. If I gave this explanation to my 6-year-old self I might be given a perplexed side-eye or see a glimmer of recognition–who knows, kids are usually far more perceptive to issues of idenity than society gives them credit for. Either way, if I followed up with a “Why is Halloween awesome?” I’m 100% sure the asnwer would be that it’s super fun to step outside of your “normal” self to be different for a day. And I feel the same today as a 21-year-old senior halfway through her last year of college.
It is so easy to get drawn into monotous routines as we go through our lives, whether it is school or work related. And this monotony even tends to tap into how we perceive the identities of ourselves and those around us. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that all of us have had those fleeting moments where we think “so this is who I am?” It’s not condemning but it does seem finite. That’s why I appreciate moments or “holidays” that give each of us a chance to break out of our usual mold to try something new. Half the fun of debuting your costume on Halloween is seeing people’s reactions. Most of us get a kick out of others pointing out our outfits, at awe that we were able to make such a drastic change so quickly. It’s fun, exciting, and heck I’ll even throw in thrilling, so have your once-thought-concrete perception of a person turned on its head when you see them decked out in their Halloween splendor. It’s freeing for your perceptions and it’s freeing for them. If they’re Superman, they get to take on the assertive stance of a superhero ready to save the day and if they’re a cat, they get to speak in a series of purrs for the night (ok, the lattter might be a stretch, but who are we to judge the aspirations of perhaps a select few). This all goes to say that Halloween will continue to be my favorite holiday because, while it may not grant me the power to move objects with my mind, it gives me a night to believe that I can be just about anything I put my mind to and that, to me, is the greatest power of all.