Why Halloween Excites Us
When you think about excitement about Halloween, who is the first person that comes to mind?
Is it yourself, a family member, a friend, or some random person on social media? We all know at least one person who claims that Halloween is their favorite time of the year. “The Nightmare Before Christmas” might be their favorite holiday movie! Personally, it’s an ex-girlfriend. No unpleasantness taints this memory for me because I remember how excited she became around this season. Sometimes, she had her costume planned as far as back as March. Her excitement would help me to get excited too. And although I never shared the exact same fervent passion for this holiday, I definitely enjoyed this holiday significantly more as a child and a young adult than I have as an official adult.
Halloween is one of the longest standing holidays in American tradition, with records of it being introduced as a Celtic celebration as early as 2,000 years ago. It was practiced here in America as early as the colonial days, but it wasn’t nationalized until after a massive Irish Immigration in the mid 1800’s. Since then, it’s become the second largest holiday in the United States. But why? What is it about celebrating the spooky and the scary that gets people leaping out of their seats in both fear and joy?
There are many reasons to choose from as it’s not just for people who enjoy the spooky aspects. Part of the excitement starts with the changing of the seasons from the hot summer months to the cool, cozy days. Halloween itself provides a number of unique opportunities for enriching our lives that don’t always happen throughout the year.
Here’s a very short list of my own reasons:
Breaking out of the norm and dressing up as something you want to be
Creating happy memories for kids
Getting the opportunity to reconnect with different people in your communities, such as neighbors
Spending more time indoors during cold evenings and watching family movies or scary movies
Copious amount of chocolate without shame
Hunting and stabbing pumpkins
These are, at least, a few of my favorite things. And yet, it gets hard to get into the season.
With all these great opportunities, why does our passion fade over the years?
This is a question we’ll keep exploring as we move closer to other major holidays. If you’re like most adults, the holidays we enjoyed as kids have become a bit… stale. The numerous extra responsibilities we didn’t have growing up, such as working, paying bills, and raising tiny humans, can easily turn pleasant activities into chores. Christmas is especially notorious for becoming burdensome on parents. While getting excited for Halloween isn’t for everyone, it may be helpful to start getting excited as the holiday season starts to amp up.
If you find yourself struggling with this, this is your encouragement to refocus and reframe your mindset to slow down and breath in the opportunities. The most helpful thing you can do is to connect with someone who is excited, and to let them stir it up in you.
Emotions are contagious. If you’ve never done so, trying to make a difference with a cashier by cracking a joke or making a small comment. If you’re looking to reframe your mindset, don’t social distance from their excitement. If you connect with someone who has an intense love of Halloween, it won’t be hard to find many more reasons to get excited. That’s where you get to find your own excitement. Halloween is not just for those who enjoy spooky ghost costumes or haunted houses. It’s one of those few holidays that comes with such diversity that almost anyone can find something to enjoy from it.
If you’re struggling to enjoy Halloween because of specific fears, grief, isolation, or other mental health distressing aspects, this is now my encouragement to you to reach out to a friend, family member, or therapist for help about those specific concerns. Don’t start this holiday season off by staying stuck, get the ball rolling to make this season one of your best.
