Inspiration from Halloween
| Playing Dress Up! On Halloween, we are ‘allowed’ to play dress up. Adults and kids alike put on costumes, dye their hair, put on outrageous makeup, and go out into the world. Are you one of those adults? I have to admit, I’m not so much…I know, it surprises me also. All around me, I listen to stories for weeks of people planning, ordering, and organizing for Halloween and deciding what story they want to play out. Imaginations run far and wide. Usually, there is joy that seems to be these stories of what costume will be curated. One way that I think about this is that Halloween gives us permission to play! We dream and ponder and then bring our imaginations to life! What if we gave ourselves permission to play and be a bit more creative on all the other days of the year? |
| I dyed my hair blue and purple last month! In our day-to-day lives, at least my day-to-day life, it wouldn’t feel right to be in full costume every day like people do on Halloween. Yet, there are ways I incorporate the idea of play and creativity into my appearance. Last spring, I went to New Orleans with a friend and wore rhinestones every day. Not rhinestone clothes, around my eyes. I loved having this bit of sparkle. Just a small step that felt right for vacation. A few weeks ago, I went to a family wedding and ended up with glitter in my hair. My mom did also 🙂 Again, another bit of play and joy for the celebration. Those are both examples of Halloween-type creativity that I have brought into my daily life. Not something that I do every day, but I have found moments when I can bring that sparkle forward. Recently, I took a step that was more permanent. I dyed my hair! I have never dyed my hair. Not to add highlights, not to cover my grey, not at all. Since 2020, my mom has been dyeing her hair. She has gorgeous silver hair. We started putting stripes of purple or turquoise in it. Yes, I do it for her. We set up a ‘beauty salon’ in the bathroom every couple of months. It is so fun. In September, as we were setting up, I said, “What if we do my hair also?” She looked at me with a huge smile and said, “SURE!” My hair is brown, with a sprinkling of grey. I didn’t bleach the brown and hoped that the color would simply hold onto the grey. Not knowing how this would come out, I decided to do a patch on the side. If I didn’t like it, I could just make sure to always part my hair to cover it. One section of turquoise and one section of purple. A few hours later, I rinsed out the dye and looked in the mirror. I realized this was an amazing decision! It brought such joy! This small action still brings me joy. In a world with so many hard things happening, it is important that we create these moments of levity, of play, of joy! |
| Golden Nuggets of the Week: 1. Let Halloween provide permission. There are so many different associations we can make with holidays. I don’t know what your connection is to Halloween. Perhaps you can start associating it with permission. Permission to get outside the box. Permission to play. Permission to try something new. Permission to focus on something silly. Permission to bring in joy!!! 2. Let that permission seep into other moments in your life. We can create moments of joy every day. Sometimes, in moving through life, it can feel hard to intentionally create joy. The silliness of a costume or fun makeup can make it easy. My way is with sparkles and glitter and purple hair dye. How would you use the inspiration of dressing up in your life, outside of Halloween? Don’t wait till someone else creates an invitation; this is your official permission slip to dress up anytime! 3. Find the right way for you, in your life. When I was in New Orleans, wearing rhinestones, I declared that I was going to wear rhinestones every day! My friend smiled and said ‘That sounds great!” I think she knew that I might realize they are not actually right for my everyday life. Now, I probably wear rhinestones once every several weeks. That is what feels right for me. Purple hair is everyday right now. Find what works for you! What tidbit would light you up every day? What tidbit would light you up once a month? You get to decide! |
| One step at a time I sometimes have to remind myself that I get to change my mind. Said another way, I get to experiment. The rhinestones were a great daily part of my outfit in New Orleans, not for my life in Brooklyn. I felt self-conscious going to the grocery store in them. Glitter is great in my hair for a birthday party or wedding. It is too messy to put on every day and would start to frustrate me, rather than bring me joy. Turquoise and purple hair feels delightful right now. As it fades, it will last about 6 weeks. I get to decide if I want to do it again. Enjoying it today does not mean I have to do it forever. What if you experimented more with Halloween-inspired steps? Put on one piece of a costume that delights you and see how it feels in a specific setting. If it doesn’t feel right, take it off or don’t do it again. If you love it, keep it up. So…what might your first Halloween-inspired step be? We need to find small ways to let joy in – now more than ever. On this Halloween, I want to remind you that dressing up might be one way to bring joy into your life more often! |
