Every year, around this time, we play a starring role.
We dress up in elaborate costumes, eat way too much candy and decorate our homes as a hotel for the afterlife.
We dim the lights and turn up the creepy music. All in an attempt to spook and scare.
Yes, Halloween traditions are in full swing. And while these festivities are ostensibly for the kids, adults get in the spirit plenty.
This should come as no surprise. After all, children didn’t originate the tradition of dressing as a pumpkin, or a lion, or a Storm Trooper on the last day of October every year. The first time many kids wore a costume, they were too young to even understand what they were dressed up as.
And going door to door, asking for candy from strangers? If kids came up with that idea, parents would certainly veto it.
No, the culture of Halloween most certainly started with grown-ups. As adults, we cherish this holiday. Not only to eat all that leftover candy, but also to pass the message to the next generation that we can be whatever we dream of being.
For one day a year, this is true.
But what about all the others?
When the clock strikes midnight and the calendar shifts to November, we go from dressing like pumpkins to becoming them.
The slipper no longer fits. There’s a glass ceiling in its place.
I’m not talking about the glass ceilings formed by experience gaps, gender or ethnicity. Our society is taking some long overdue steps to shatter those barriers. (And it’s about time!)
No, I’m talking about the glass ceiling we’ve formed for ourselves.
For all our talk of aspirations, how much have we backed up that talk with action? For all the times we tell kids If you can dream it, you can do it, how often do we follow through?
Probably not as much as we’d like.
There are many times when our dreams might be untenable. Only the most talented baseball players make the major leagues. Only a chosen few can see their name in lights in Hollywood.
But there are plenty of other times that we make our dreams untenable.
You see, for all we make light of ghosts and goblins and spookiness, we all too often let fear hold us back. We let what could happen get in the way of what might be.
This is horribly unfortunate.
Fear only has power over our lives if we let it. The more we run from it, the more we turn our aspirations into daydreams.
Punting on our aspirations sets a poor example. One that the next generation feeds off of.
Over time, this makes it harder and harder for people to view their aspirations as a potential reality. The more we’re surrounded by a culture that self-imposes a glass ceiling, the more real that barrier becomes.
It’s time to break through.
Let’s go after our aspirations. Let’s inspire others to do the same.
Let’s use our actions, not our words, to promote a society where the sky really is the limit. One where we don’t have to resort to dressing up once a year for our soul to be free.
If we can do this, we can change everything.
Aspirations are powerful. Let’s use that power for the better.