I have a theory about why everyone loves Halloween.
See, from the time we are young children, we are taught to wear a myriad of disguises every moment of our lives. As expectations are heaped upon us, and as we “fail” to meet expectations that we were never capable of meeting, we hide ever more firmly behind our masks as we try to fit into the mold that they are. These disguises are so convincing that we eventually come to view ourselves as the characters we portray. As we struggle with the challenge of trying to wear many masks at once, we are apt to completely lose touch with our true selves. But none of these masks are disguises of our own choosing, and we are not offered an opt-out. The true disguise is who we all pretend or try to be every day of our lives. But wearing these costumes becomes heavy and dreary. But we are stuck wearing them, nonetheless.
Halloween is a time where we are allowed to connect with our inner child and shed the real disguises in order to connect to the magic of choosing who you want to become and becoming that. For one glorious day every year, our society not only gives permission but it celebrates us all choosing our own identity and becoming that. Gender fluidity is okay. Celebrating feeling sexy is okay – and we have seen that we are capable of making almost ANY costume a sexy one. In fact, my sister once asked if she could raid my closet for her costume because she and her partner were going to a party as a pimp and a hoe 🤣🤣🤣 – because it was okay for anyone to wear the things I did on the regs.
You see, no one knows who we TRULY are on the inside except ourselves. Only each individual knows the complexities of the Self. And the costumes we choose for Halloween come from one of the deepest connections we have to our inner child – the inherent need we have to play and to express who we are by wearing masks of our own choosing.
We are programmed to choose masks for ourselves periodically through life, but most of the masks we wear come from outside of ourselves. So we learn to almost depend on wearing masks. But we are forced to wear masks that are ill-suited to fit our faces. Halloween is the one time every year where we give ourselves permission to openly wear a mask we choose instead of hiding behind the masks we are given. And that feels liberating. That feels like magic.