A while ago my mom told me that she had a nightmare, so I listened, waiting for the part where a tiger comes after her or where she’s being chased by a grotesque monster, but that part never comes. I will say that the dream was strange, with scene changes and people popping in and out of it, just like all dreams. But, unless it was when I showed up, I never found the scary part of the dream that made it a nightmare.
Halloween is when we strangely celebrate “scary things” but it’s a fun and exciting holiday for almost everyone. Kids love it because they can be whatever they want, and they get loads of free candy. Adults enjoy it because kids are so excited and they get to see how creative everyone is and how cute the kids are in their costumes. Plus, parents get to tax the Halloween loot for their favorite candies.
I want to point out the strange tradition of it for a minute. What is supposed to be the scariest time of the year, there are kids wandering around the neighborhood dressed up as scary things. The things that kids are most afraid of are monsters, ghosts, dragons, zombies, and other unnatural things that don’t exist. Adults are scared of a sink full of dishes, laundry, public speaking, making a fool of oneself, eventual death, and other very real and inescapable things.
It’s so interesting that our fears evolve as we get older, maybe that’s why I didn’t understand my mom’s nightmare. She may have a more logical fear than what I was expecting in the dream. I guess I’m still in between the fear of me-eating-monsters and the fear of laundry. But while most of us are afraid of meeting new people or dealing with new situations, kids get the lucky end of the deal. They get to spend a night encountering their fears like dinosaurs, witches, clowns, and monsters, knowing they don’t need to be scared, and they get candy for it!
Maybe, if we got a load of treats for facing our fears we would be a bit more excited about it. Unfortunately we won’t have everyone we know or kinda know giving us candy for it, but we can still get a treat for facing fears. Working towards goals includes facing fears, recognize what scares you and reward yourself for getting through it. So whether your goals involve facing piles of laundry, a crowd of people, or a gnarly monster, know that you’ll survive and you get a treat afterwards. So hey, we can all be just as lucky as those kids!
