As a kid, I don’t remember being asked:
What do you want to be for Halloween?
Halloween wasn’t the easiest of holidays for my busy mom of nine children. Our costumes were cobbled together with whatever could be found in our house. My dad’s old suits, my brother’s old sports jerseys, and a few old sheets were the limits of my creative canvas. What I wanted to be was defined by what I could find in our basement.
Halloween changed for me in college. My friends and I would scour thrift stores and craft stores for weeks. We engaged in competitive costume-making. We weren't just making costumes. We were making statements.
We asked each other constantly:
“What are you going to be?”
We gave ourselves full permission to DRESS UP any way we wanted. We could become anything we imagined.
Somewhere along the way, I forgot the importance of dreaming about what I want to be. It’s the downside of liking who I’ve become. I don’t think about dressing up as anyone else. I’ve convinced myself this is it.
I am the most I’ll ever be.
But that’s simply not true. And Halloween is the perfect time to dream again.
What if Halloween wasn't about pretending to be someone else? What if Halloween was about dressing up as our future selves? How would you dress up if your future depended on it?
We don't have to dislike who we are to imagine who else we might become.
My future can be anything I imagine. I can dress up any way I wish. And so can you.
Instead of just asking the children, let’s keep asking ourselves and each other:
“What do you want to be?”
Dress Up is for more than kids at Halloween. We are never too old to dress up our future.
