Happy (first snow of the season) Halloween. I wasn’t planning on posting anything about Halloween, but when I saw this picture of me and my sister all decked out from when we were young (no store bought costumes in our house, those puppies were handmade by mom) I remembered what I do really love about this holiday.

Four things in particular:

Creativity

Fun

Play

Permission

It seems like as we grow up we start to need permission or a reason to have fun, to be creative, to dress up, ‘go crazy’… we play it safe because we are afraid to make mistakes, which really limits how much we are able to have in whatever area of life we are holding back (usually out of some kind of fear, of course). And I really think most adults do not have the same connection to the energy of play that we do as kids… all that grown up responsibility can be a serious downer.

I love seeing everyone’s expressions of creativity, how people are able to execute these amazing visions, sometimes spending a lot of time and money and sometimes astounding everyone with their ability to completely transform with just some random household stuff they put together.

So often, in our spaces and in our lives, we play it safe…  we don’t take a lot of risks, we don’t want to make ‘mistakes’… we keep things neutral, we fit in, we hold back…

*yawn*

My favorite thing about today is the permission – to have fun and be silly, to be creative, not have to be ‘perfect’, the more expressive and imaginative you are the more validated you are, at least for today… and wouldn’t it be fun to have more of these things in our everyday lives. Just imagine what things would look like, or what you might be able to have then.