“There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly-lit front porch.”
Robert Brault Tweet
Cheers Beauties & Happy Halloween!
This Halloween got me thinking.
I know. I know. It seems as if everything gets me thinking these days.
In case you didn’t know, I’m a kid at heart.
A favorite memory comes to mind. When my kids were little, we were enjoying an afternoon swim in a lovely pool in Maui. We were playing a game of “Lemonade” when a little boy came over to join us. He seemed a little confused when my kids told him I was their mom. He laughed. Then, he said, “Oh, you’re a kid Mom, right!?” My kids and I chuckled over that one for a long time.
I’m a kid grown up!
We all are.
You see, our younger selves are still inside of us. They’re carefully tucked away, beneath the veneer of a midlife & beyond human. We’ve grown up on the outside, but there’s a part of us that’s forever connected to all of our younger selves.
Back in the 60’s and 70’s, Halloween meant trick or treating endlessly as long as we could, filling up a giant pillowcase (or two if you were an overachiever like me!) with all kinds of goodies. My favorites were Milk Duds and Charleston Chews. If we were lucky, we might find one or two houses that gave us full sized candy bars. That felt like winning the lottery.
When my kids were little, we lived in a beautiful home right next door to their Catholic School. It was the best neighborhood for trick or treaters. Come Halloween, the sidewalks would be teeming with little ones. We would get all decked out in our costumes and have giant buckets of candy ready for the trick or treaters. I would dress up as Judy Jetson (a favorite costume of mine) and we would pull up the window that overlooked the front porch and get ready for the adorable kiddos to flock on by. It was kind of like McDonald’s drive through for the eager little ghosts and goblins.
The trick or treaters would look so surprised as they headed to the front door as the three of us would pop out of the window and yell, “Trick or treat” at the top of our lungs.
I don’t think I’ll ever grow up.
Here’s the thing about midlife. It can be really confusing. We wake up one day only to look in the mirror to see an older self looking back. We see wrinkles and smile lines forming, while we still feel like our younger selves much of the time – on the inside.
I see that as a beautiful thing.
One thing I know for sure, the younger we are on the inside, the more in touch we are with that kid at heart, the younger the energy we exude on the outside.
When we tap into that kid at heart, when we put on silly Halloween costumes in our 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and beyond and when we jump on paddleboards dressed in witchy attire, we keep ourselves younger.
I’m a kid Mom. And a kid adult. And a kid influencer, blogger, podcaster, and the list goes on. I’ll be a kid grandma. I’ll be a kid forever and ever.
On the inside. Where it matters most.
Much like those Russian nesting dolls, inside of us lie our younger selves.
Halloween is a wonderful day to allow us to let those younger selves loose.
To me, that’s age positivity in a nutshell. Youthful thinking – tapping into our younger selves, keeps us youthful. It’s one of the best secrets for living agelessly.
When we exude youthful energy, we create the appearance of a younger self on the outside. The more we channel our inner kid at heart, the younger we feel on the inside, the younger we look on the outside.
Cheers Beauties & Happy Halloween. Here’s to letting your younger selves loose this Hallows Eve. You know where you can find this witchy woman – happily paddling along the Sound all decked out in witchy garb – all the while chuckling to herself on the inside.
Forever & ever, a kid at heart.