Are You Hiding From Monsters?

I imagined little monsters, fairies, and witches walking by my house wanting something from me, and I was terrified. So terrified that I huddled behind the couch in the dark.

Even as I pressed myself into that hiding place, I knew I was being irrational. After all, it was just children out for their night of trick-or-treating.

But it was my first time home alone at Halloween, and I was afraid of the doorbell ringing, afraid of what would be required of me if I opened the door.

I wasn’t really alone. My two-month-old son was with me.

I was nineteen and already a mother. I wasn’t afraid of what I had to do to be a good mother, or student, or how to earn money for food. I could handle those things.

But children at the door? That was something I believed I couldn’t deal with.

Even now, all these years later, I don’t fully understand what I was afraid of.

What I do remember is myself squashed into a little ball for hours, held captive by some unnamed fear, until I was certain the possibility of a trick-or-treater ringing the doorbell had passed.

The Question I Ask Every Year

So every Halloween, I ask myself a question.

❓What are you hiding from this year?

Not behind the couch, mind you. Not from trick-or-treaters. Not from monsters, both real and imagined.

But from the things I want to do, the ideas that call to me, the dreams that scare me precisely because they matter.

I ask myself: What are you resisting?

What ghosts and memories from your past are saying “boo,” causing you to say “no” to exploring what you truly want, and then actually doing it?

The Fears We Can’t Name

Perhaps we’re drawn to horror movies and thrillers because they offer a fear that can be seen and named—a fear with a face, a beginning, and an end.

It’s the vague dread, the nameless resistance, the shadows we can’t quite make out that do the most harm to living our fulfilled and joyful lives.

We can’t fight what we can’t name or see.

Are these the ghosts of the past that frighten us?

The ghosts of moments when we first started to believe we were stupid, incapable, unworthy, not good enough?

The echoes of being laughed at, humiliated, dismissed as the wrong age, the wrong anything? The memories of mistakes that caused us to shut the doors of our lives and bolt them tight?

The Season of Imagination

Halloween is the perfect season to bring out those ghosts and strip away their power.

It’s the season when we wear costumes and imagine ourselves to be whatever we want to be.

We can put those unnamed fears and monsters into a box and lock it.

We can keep the key in case we want to examine them later, but while they’re locked away, we have permission to try a few things we’ve been putting off.

Now is the time, because regrets become their own ghosts—the kind that periodically pop out to remind us how we’ve broken promises to ourselves and others.

The Only Rule

Whatever you decide to do, don’t make it about making money, gaining popularity, doing what everyone else is doing, or getting approval.

👉 Just do something you’ve always wanted to do and see what happens.

There is only one rule: Don’t hurt anyone else. We don’t want to become monsters.

And that might be one of the fears keeping us frozen behind the couch—we’re afraid we’ll hurt someone.

Let’s be clear about the difference between hurting others intentionally and disappointing others because they don’t understand or support your dreams.

That’s a choice they make. Give them the chance to make it. They may surprise you.

It Always Comes Down To Intent.

What is your intent?

To expand, encourage, open doors for others, be yourself, sing, dance, spread joy?

Then go, go, go, go!

Your decision might open the door for others to move forward. And if not? Bless them while you follow your heart.

Turn On the Lights

Use the energy of this season of imagination and get out from behind the couch.

Turn on the lights. Let life in.

Trick the fear and give yourself a treat this Halloween.

The universe is waiting to give it to you.

Knock on the door and open your bag as wide as it will go.

Expect the perfect treat designed specifically for you—sweet, with no harmful side effects.