Why You Should Still Dress Up For Halloween

Hey Everyone,

Hope you’re all having a happy Friday. Halloween is tomorrow and I can’t help but feel disappointed by the lack of commitment and creativity that I’m seeing. I get that we can’t have crazy Halloween parties and that kids can’t go trick or treating this year, and that what I’m about to say may be seen as an unpopular (or I guess more so a high effort) opinion. That said, I think we should all still dress up for Halloween, regardless of the fact that there’s no trick-or-treating or Halloween parties. Let me explain why.

 1. It’s the one day of the year where you can let your imagination run free and let your inner child come out.

I’ve preached this idea many times, and I’m about to preach it some more, so here we go. Having a child’s mentality is the best thing someone can do for themselves. I feel as though we’re all in such a rush to grow up, figure things out and “be realistic” (whatever that means), but the truth is I don’t want to be realistic and grow up just yet. I don’t think anyone truly does.

I’m not saying don’t be an adult and never graduate or start a family. All I’m trying to say is that as you grow up and mature, don’t let go of that childlike mentality that you once had. As a kid, you think you can do anything because at the time, reality had no meaning to you. I used to think I could change the world and become the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, and no one could’ve told me otherwise. Even if they did , I didn’t care. After all, I was 14 and thought I had the entire world figured out. It wasn’t until I got to university when I decided that some things just weren’t possible to achieve. I started thinking about more realistic career paths and what I could do to live the ideal “picket fence” life with my then girlfriend and imaginary dogs. Having said that, if Covid-19 and isolation has taught me anything, it’s that your inner child is never lost and that you can bring them out whenever you want. I work very hard and diligently from 8:00AM to 8:00PM just so I can call my close friends to brainstorm random crazy start-up ideas. If you’ve heard some of the ideas we brainstormed, you would probably think we were partly insane, but that’s exactly the point. How can anyone possibly expect to achieve their highest potential or solve complex problems if they’re willfully trapped in any limited dogma..

So … you may be wondering what that has to do with Halloween, right?

Well, Halloween is a perfect time to escape that boring mundane life that everyone seems to rush to put themselves in. Halloween gives everyone the opportunity to escape their current reality and pretend to be whoever they want to be. For one day of the year, anyone can be a princess, superhero, or whoever they strive to be. Why would anyone not want to capitalize on the one day of the year where it’s socially acceptable to pretty much be whatever you want. Everyone is practically being invited to unleash their imagination and creativity for the sake of just having a good time.  

2. You’ll have the chance to put a smile on people’s faces.

If you don’t want to be a kid, then at least dress up to put a smile on others’ faces. During depressing times, I like to believe that it’s my personal responsibility to make those around me smile and maybe now, it could be your responsibility to make those around you smile. None of us are thrilled with the current pandemic. This is the time where we need people to be silly because day-to-day living has probably never been so boring. I promise that if you dress up, everyone in your house will smile and maybe follow in your footsteps. You can even post a picture of your costume on social media and make all your followers smile as well. I know that I’m excited to see people’s costumes on social media.​

3.  You’ll be happier and more engaged throughout the day.

Maybe you live by yourself or with your parents and don’t really care for posting your costume on social media. If that’s the case, then I suggest simply dressing up for yourself because you have the chance to relive your childhood and you’re doing something that’s totally different from your usual day-to-day life. When I’m in a slump or feel like I can’t get anything done, I usually take a break to just do something fun. During university, Halloween has been my favourite time because I just associate it with good memories like dressing up as Aladdin, going to Halloween parties and seeing funny costumes. From people dressing up as twister boards to iphones, I’ve seen it all. I think even though we can’t really celebrate Halloween like we used to, we can all at least dress up and be in a better mood. I’m almost certain that it will be easier to make good memories if you take the time to be creative and dress up like you used to at one point.
 
Anyways, I hope you all have a great Friday and I hope that all of you put together a Halloween costume for Saturday. If this blog helped convince you to dress up for Halloween this year, then send it to a friend so they too can be convinced to dress up. I know it may be a lot of effort to dress up this year, but joy and entertainment rarely comes easily. Sometimes, you have to put in the effort to have the experience you want to have as you only really get back what you put in.

Thanks for reading <3

Yours Truly,
Farshad Murtada

P.S: Here’s some of my favourite Halloween pictures. I will always remember all the people who made my last few university Halloweens so memorable. Let me know what some your past Halloween costumes were.