Who do you want to be?


Introduction

Halloween Time! It started at our house somewhere mid-August when the kids started asking about -Christmas and I explained how much closer Halloween was.

I have a love-hate relationship with Halloween. I don’t like how eager everyone is to load my kids up with sugar. And let’s face it: I’m not a horror fan. I used to LOVE the spooks and chills that come with zombies, ghosts, and witches. Not so much anymore.

But I do love the parties. And the costumes! Of course, planning the costumes for each person in my family…can be challenging.

Sometime in the middle of September, I sat my family down and asked them what they wanted their costumes to be. Because seriously, the costumes come up in August and sell out really fast. By 
October it’s like “Okay kid, do you want Deadpool or do we want to go as the color green this year?” Actually, I would never let them be Deadpool.

My two-year-old wanted to be anything my four-year-old wanted to be and they both want Daddy to be the same. It was a close vote, but Batman beat Buzz Lightyear by a narrow margin. So, the boys will be going as “Daddy Batman,” “Kid Batman” and “Baby Batman” this year. My seven-year-old couldn’t decide between a zombie or a jack-o-lantern. The pumpkin won out in the end. This was switched to a princess when we got to the store and she had a good variety of suggestions. And then there is my six-year-old.

I had ten different things she wanted to be written down. We had anything from Merida to Moana to a blanket. Yes, she wanted me to put down “a brown blanket”. I’m still giggling about it. Let’s just hope the Belle costume we finally landed on will make all her Halloween dreams come true!

Being who you want to be. For Halloween, and in life.


Dressing up is my favorite part of Halloween because I can choose to be whatever I want to be—when I grow up. Yup. I just put a metaphoric layer to Halloween. Honestly, most years I grab a pair of black ears and paint mascara on my face just for an easy cat costume so I go to parties quickly. But when I have time and money to invest: I’m usually a princess or a superhero. Ha! This year, I may go as a world-famous author. Or a lawyer. Okay, I’m super pregnant right now. Maybe I’ll just go with how I feel: like a toddling hippopotamus. Moving on.

Figuring out your dreams and passions—what will make you happiest in this life—can be a daunting task. One not easily solved by a trip to the store and twenty bucks. In our society you are what you do. So, what do you want to do?

Just like my kids and Halloween costumes, people have different ways of coming to their passion.
Thanks to my parents, I grew up knowing I could be literally whatever I wanted to be. Thanks to my husband and children and God, I am becoming that. (Still growing up over here.)

The question I’m really posing here is about you. Do you realize that you can do anything you want to—starting now? This minute?


Every dawning is a new day. A chance to move forward, reach for those dreams, and reinvent who you are. People do like to stereotype. It seems to be the lazy way of making a quick decision about someone. Sometimes it’s difficult to be seen as different than you have been, but with time and consistency, it can all change.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On a dark and quiet night...

Image
When I think of the scariest experiences in my life, they don’t usually include anything we acknowledge at Halloween. A loved one is diagnosed with an incurable disease, for example. I haven’t been through too many scary experiences. But there is a spooky one I’d like to relate in the name of Halloween. I was eighteen with a terrible habit of coming home past midnight. I drove down the silent middle-class suburban neighborhood where I lived in my parents’ house. It was excellently illuminated by street lights. I parked my trusty Chevy-Tracker, Ted, in front of the house and came inside. It was completely dark. My family was all asleep. Except for my brother who was still out. I went upstairs and collapsed on my bed before realizing I had left my phone in my car. So I went downstairs and opened the door. I had a strange feeling that I was being watched. I couldn’t help but hurry to the car. I had this nagging feeling that I wasn’t safe. I grabbed my phone, locked my car...
Read more

Do authors really need to read to be any good?

I've always been a writer. I remember being four or five years old and stringing together a few letters to create words to create a poem. It must have been a formative moment in my life because I remember the poem.  I grew up eventually--not all the way--but I wanted to share my words. When I finally had the courage to make my writing public, one single post about my glad tidings brought on an onslaught of advice.  There were a few words from friends embarking on the author journey, but most of it was from readers who were eager to tell me what not to do. One of them said something that has been reiterated SOOOO often that it really used to annoy me. This advice was "If you want to be a good author, you need to read." Seven times out of ten, this is said with a patronizing lilt and glasses pushed up the nose. I thought I was going to fail. I am a pretty fast reader, but I don't like reading generally. In High School, I read all the classics so I could hold conv...
Read more

Gems of gratitude.

It’s the time of year when my Facebook feed is filled with people doing their 30 days of gratitude for November. This year, I haven’t seen as much as I did last or the year before. I still enjoy reading the ones who do. I love it when the small details are recounted. For example, one of my friends once told me that the thing she missed the most about small children, was the pitter-pat of bare feet alongside the rustle of a diaper. It touched my heart. Ever since then, when I’m having a rough day, I take a deep breath and listen for that specific harmony. And I smile every time. I know, first hand, the benefits of cultivating and expressing gratitude. It’s been a matter of personal pondering and study. By that, I don’t just mean personal reflection. The scientific study of the effects of gratitude on someone’s wellbeing has been a topic that is gathering some steam in the past couple years. The findings are not surprising.  Apparently, people who keep gratitude journals report...
Read more