Halloween is the day when people get in touch with their inner child, dress up in funny and spooky costumes to enjoy the day and party. It is the day when kids can go crazy and enjoy bucket loads of candy with trick or treating. But, let’s face it, as fun as Halloween is, it can be a dreadful experience for many.
The spooky theme can cause a gigantic load on the minds of people suffering from anxiety and stress. Not only that, Halloween marks the starting of the holiday season and the busiest time of the year. So, with a swarm of decorations and holiday chores coming your way, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and exhausted.
Getting dizzy? Well, not to worry, we have some tricks that will take your stress away this Halloween season and will allow you to treat yourself with mindfulness, mental peace, optimism mindset, and a healthy stress-free Halloween!
Ways to trick or treat yourself this Halloween
If you also suffer from anxiety and stress especially, around the Halloween season, there are several things you can do to make this day a little easier for you. Although you cannot change your feelings, you can adopt some stress relief activities that can help you calm yourself down and even allow you to enjoy the day. So without further adieu, here are some stress-reducing tips for Halloween.
Identify the triggers
The first thing you can do is identify the key components that trigger your anxiety and cause you stress. Identifying these triggers allow you to resolve stress more efficiently. You can form a list of how you could control these triggers and adopt different methods to deal with them. However, it is essential to remember that you’re in control, only do things that make you comfortable.
Take a peaceful walk.
Taking a long walk alone or with a companion can greatly reduce the stress and anxiety of Halloween. The light cold breeze, holiday lights, and decorations can bump one’s mood and thus reduce stress and anxiety. You can also adopt walking in your daily routine as it keeps you healthy and your mind stable. However, if you are easily startled by spooky decorations, then you should have a partner with you on these walks.
Perform breathing exercises and meditation
As we all know, mindful breathing and meditation have become the primary methods to reduce anxiety and levitate your mental health. With that being said, these exercises can also help you enormously to reduce Halloween Stress and make it a more joyful and mindful event for you. A simple couple of minutes of meditation and breathing will eliminate your nervousness and put you back in the moment.
Make time for yourself.
We understand that Halloween is a busy festival. There are countless different things that you have to do. Decorations, shopping, making costumes, cooking meals, and whatnot, not to mention the kids hopping up on candy and having a sugar rush. It is a hectic endeavor that can demand a lot from you.
So, be sure to carve out some time for self-treatment and self-care. It is important to take a second for yourself, breathe, and figure out the things you have done and things that are left for you to complete. Believe us, this can really save your sanity while tackling Halloween challenges!
Enjoy the parties!
When we think of Halloween, we think of parties. It is the day where family and friends get together and enjoy the day with creative food, decorations, music, and candy. Lots and lots of candy! So, it also entitles you to have some fun at a party, be it yours or somebody else’s. It is a great way to blow off the stress and tension you endured while preparing for the festival.
However, if you are sensitive to spooky costumes and scary decorations, you should avoid attending such parties. Instead, you can go for more pleasing themes such as light decorations instead of webs and witch masks, and smiling pumpkins instead of spooky monsters.
Why can celebrating Halloween be healthy?
While doctors and parents often struggle over the excess sugar consumption that this festival brings to their kids. It can result in many health benefits not only to kids but also to adults. Shocked right? Here are some of the health benefits that Halloween offers.
It brings society together.
We are social creatures, and social connections are good for humans. One of the marvelous things about Halloween is that it connects us with neighbors. If you’re an average American, you might not have interacted with your neighbors frequently and probably don’t know many people living on your block.
Halloween offers a great chance to remedy this situation and allow you to get to know your neighbors. Some studies even showed that such interaction makes you happier, kinder, healthier, and acts as stress relief activities.
It makes you physically active
The tons of chores and decorations are demanding physical activities that every single one of us has to go through. As dreadful as it is, it reflects a positive effect on your body as you are getting more physically active.
Furthermore, trick-or-treating with young children can also lead to physical benefits. Infants can not trick or treat alone, and while you may not feel it walking door to door with them can surely make you reach your daily exercise goals.
Shopping is a proven stress buster.
Shopping for Halloween stuff can be a great stress-relieving activity for adults. Studies have shown that retail therapy, when restrained to small expenditures, can elevate your mood by reducing anxiety, stress, and depression levels.
Although spending hundreds of dollars every day might not be a permanent solution for stress and anxiety, purchasing Halloween costumes, gifts, and other goodies can make your festival “jolly” unquestionably.
Halloween makes death fun.
Everyone is afraid of dying, and the fear of death is a major factor of anxiety for many people. Halloween is a festival that celebrates that and makes it a little less scary. Just like Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the dead), Halloween is one of many “memento mori” festivals designed to make us aware that death is a part of life.
Final Thoughts
Halloween is a spooky, hectic, but fun-filled festival. While many people experience stress and anxiety during this period, remember, it is a day that acknowledges and celebrates the fears within people. It provides a chance for you to face your fears and grow beyond them. Halloween may be a celebration of death, but with mindfulness and meditation, you can make this day more joyful and full of life!
