BY: Padraic Maroney – “The Neurotic Urban Millennial”

After Birthdaypalooza, Friendsgiving, and Steak and Blow job day — none of which, unfortunately, are officially recognized federally or by banks — Halloween is my favorite holiday. It’s the one time of year when you can unabashedly let your freak flag fly and it’s okay to scare people and be scared.

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Halloween is unlike any other holiday that we celebrate during the year. All of the major holidays are marketed as a day for loved ones to come together to exchange presents, have a good meal, or just revel in the good fortunes of being healthy, happy, and above ground. On the other hand, Halloween celebrates everything that is buried six feet under. If you aren’t a fan of the spookiest of holidays, let me share why I think you should get onboard the corpse express!

It’s Less Stressful Than Other Holidays

Many of the other holidays can cause more stress than excitement from trying to find the best present, whipping up a feast for 20, or preparing your house to host all of the relatives that you don’t talk to the rest of the year. Halloween’s biggest concerns are finding an appropriate costume and not overdosing on candy.

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Now, don’t get me wrong, while I may not rank Christmas and Thanksgiving among my top holidays, I do love the holiday season. There’s always just something in the air that feels magical. But all of that magic comes at a price that Halloween doesn’t require you to pay. It’s a lower stakes holiday that is meant to be a fun day for everyone involved. If you aren’t having fun on Halloween, you are doing it wrong.

Being Scared Can Be Healthy

Since graduating college, I have worked in medical-related fields. So, while I don’t practice medicine, per say, I am basically a medical professional. If you’re sick, I can probably diagnose your ailment — and I accept all insurances and forms of payment.

With that being said, it’s my professional medical opinion that being scared at Halloween actually has many health benefits. Not everyone likes to admit to being scared, but really, it can be a healthy way to relieve stress and relax.(Coincidentally, it’s backed up by real professionals here.)

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Being scared also shows you a different side of people that you don’t get to see often. A few years ago, a group of friends and I went to a haunted house attraction. It was shortly after starting to date someone, and seeing their reaction to the scares and frights was my favorite part. Being scared in a controlled situation allows you to have fun and bond; expressing emotions that you might only share if you ran into a real-life Michael Myers or Ghostface. There’s something endearing about seeing the walls drop and see how people handle getting scared too.

Break Out From The Norm

But possibly the best reason to embrace Halloween is that for one night of the year, you can be whoever you want. Regardless of what you are, or how you feel about yourself, the other 364 days of the year, Halloween gives you the opportunity to dress up as a superhero, sexy nurse, zombie, sexy Harry Potter, or my personal favorite costume that I ever wore — Cookie Monster! (You’ll get to see a picture of that costume later this week.)

There’s so much external judgment and so many expectations on a typical day, that for this one day you can break free of all of that. You can do you, and depending on the costume people might not even know that is you under the make-up or mask.

Picking out a costume that helps to live your best life is key to maximizing the fun on Halloween. Maybe you want to pretend to be something that you can’t be on an ordinary day, or you want to pay homage to your favorite comic book or movie character. Whatever you pick for Halloween helps you express yourself and, barring those people who are indifferent to the holiday and just throw a costume together five minutes before going out, not worry about being judged for it.

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So, remember it’s just one day of the year. You can go back to your regularly scheduled activities on November 1st. But for one day of the year, it’s freeing just to have fun and enjoy yourself. Plus, it’s pretty much guaranteed that on Halloween you will get to break out those sweet “Thriller” dance moves that you learned as a kid.


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Padraic Maroney hails from upstate New York, suffering from middle child syndrome.  His writing career began after moving to the Philadelphia suburbs while in high school. He wrote for The Bucks County Courier Times’ Reality section, written by local teenagers, and has the distinction of writing a weekly gossip column for a college newspaper at a school he didn’t even attend! His love of pop culture led him to intern at Teen People, where he met Janis Gaudelli, and realized he could turn being a millennial into a career. Since then he’s alternated between writing and marketing, but always focused on Millennials and everything they bring to the table. Padraic is a lover of shenanigans, 80s music, and the movie “Scream.”

You can follow his additional adventures on Instagram: @padraicjacob

 

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