For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been a bit of a Halloween scrooge. It’s not that I don’t like it so much as I’m just not interested in it.
In discussing this with friends recently, they said it’s a chance to dress up and be something or somebody else.
I’m quite sure they didn’t mean it as a complete transformation, but that idea got me thinking.
I can’t recall a time in my life, at any point ever, where I wanted to be anyone other than me.
Perhaps it’s just a wiring thing, but I’ve never looked at friends, neighbors or even famous people and wished I could be who they are or have what they have.
It’s probably why I don’t watch much TV – especially of the reality show variety. I’m just not that interested in what other people have or what they’re doing. The concept of jealousy is completely foreign to me. It’s just not a thing I’ve ever experienced.
(That said, I am immensely interested in why people do the things they do – which is why I got into marketing and find it so fascinating (if not frustrating).)
That’s not to say everything in my life is always great, on an objective scale. But I’ve always embraced my experiences – whether they’re happening to me or I made them happen. And I’ve always embraced solving the problems that I’m experiencing (at some point in the process, if not always immediately).
I think my dislike for dressing up is the idea that I might be masking, however temporarily, who I am or what I think. When people experience me, I want them to know exactly what they’re getting.
To dress up would blur that line.