Tonight is, for the majority of ‘of-age’ America, the night where the Halloween celebrations go down. Parties, bar crawls, shenanigans, pranks, all performed with the extra spice of some creative, hilarious, and/or slutty costume.
From the outside, Halloween is simply another excuse for adults to get drunk and for kids to get hyper. Let’s be honest, pretty much every American holiday looks that way from the outside. But for me as an adult, growing up in a family that didn’t celebrate Halloween, it has always been about getting to show off my creative side both in ideas and in manifestation.
While most of my friends are quite content to be sexy cops, sexy maids, or the infamous sexy cat, I refuse to touch such cliches with a ten-foot pole. Not that there is anything wrong with sexy cat, I just have thus far fiercely clung to my ideals of originality and home-made ensembles, and I don’t see myself changing that anytime soon.
Last year, I was quite proud of my American Beauty idea, and made a costume that was simple yet pretty awesome in my humble opinion (pictured above).
This year, I sit with 12 hours between me and the time when I step out into the world to display my creation, and I have nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
Considering that I was always ready for Halloween pretty early in the past, I find myself wondering what the change is. Why am I not ready for this?
Part of it is the fact that I don’t feel like my body is something to show off right now, and sexy female costumes are the bread and butter of this holiday, which certainly puts a damper on things. But mostly, as I look back on the past weeks and months, I have simply not been putting a priority on creativity.
Instead, I’ve been focusing on work, working out, sloooowwwwly reading my real estate books along with other self-improvement literature, and running around like a chicken with my head cut off to this appointment or that scheduled event. Creating a Halloween costume has not been on the top list of my priorities.
All of this focus on productivity has been good, but it also has taken a toll. My face has decided to sprout some ‘friends’, my extra lbs are stubbornly clinging to the areas I most certainly do not want them to cling, and to top everything off I caught a cold last week (getting sick is a rare, sad occasion for me).
What would happen, I wonder, if I simply embraced the spirit of Halloween more in everyday life? What if, instead of worrying about spending ALL of my time in productive mode, I allowed myself a bit of creative time, just because?
Maybe taking some time to stop and paint the roses wouldn’t actually be holding me back. Maybe, just maybe, it might actually spur more of the productivity that I want to see.
Let me give you some examples.
I have been wanting to make a vision board for quite a while, but because it’s not immediately productive, I keep putting it off. Yet, whenever I hear successful people talk, they always refer to their vision board and how it keeps them on track.
What if I allowed myself an afternoon of unfettered cutting and gluing, of humming along to some Lana Del Rey or Angels and Airwaves, and really thinking about what I want to put on my vision board and how I want the final product to look. How powerful would it be to have my dreams be on display in color every single day?
When you look at it that way, it seems incredibly silly to have waited this long.
Or how about the fact that I want to write several different books and perhaps even some screenplays, yet I never allow myself to indulge in a good fiction book binge-sesh, opting instead for more non-fiction reading that encourages self-reflection and hopefully spurs mental growth. All great reads, by the way.
Yet, what if I picked up a book at the bookstore, gave myself an evening to dig in, and discovered that the way that author writes is amazing, and it turbo-charges my desire to create my own kick-ass protagonist? AKA, actually push my ideas into fruition. Why the hell haven’t I been doing this on a regular basis?
Creativity is literally the fountain of life. We as humans are created out of two people’s love for one another (or should be in an ideal world). We are born of creation, and therefore we are born to create.
Why, then, do I and so many others inadvertently spurn the soft fields of creativity and hail the cold concrete of production? We are in essence cutting off our nose to spite our face.
When it comes to Christmas time, everyone agrees that we should have more of the spirit of Christmas in our hearts year round—giving, loving, caring about our fellow man. And I agree. But I also vote that we should have the spirit of Halloween year-round, too—fun and creativity.
If we embraced those traits in our daily lives, all of us would be happier. And just think of everything cool that would come from those hours embodying fun and creativity! All things amazing and awe-inspiring and and epic originally came from an idea-an idea that was given the space and light to germinate, unfurl, and finally blossom.
So, if you’ll excuse me, I now have 11 hours left to put together the perfect blend of innovation and sex appeal…and I now know just what I’m going to do.
I’m putting creativity back on the priority list. I suggest you do the same.
Happy innovating!
Hannah Elizabeth 
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