Once again, Halloween is about to descend upon us in all its fantastical glory, along with a special, extra scary twist as the COVID-19 crisis continues. As much as we fear ghosts and the dark, we fear disease, death, or accidental transmission of a virus that is almost on par with the destructive force of a mass biological weapon.
I would be remiss to say I don’t feel a hint of nostalgia at the thought of Halloween. It was once my favorite holiday, despite the plethora of natural disasters and seasonal storms that would occur almost every year during my childhood. One year it rained and I almost got pneumonia. Another year Hurricane Sandy made it so Halloween was moved to the week after. Three years in a row it either hailed or snowed the night before. But despite these small setbacks, I soldiered on, all to receive candy I could buy at any neighborhood corner store or supermarket.
It’s ironic to consider that despite all that nature did to deter me, I forced myself through that fear, to reap a seemingly inconsequential reward. In a similar way, we force ourselves to face small fears and anxieties that plague our everyday lives. Fear is a primal, powerful, and invasive psychological response. The Ancient Greeks likened it to a fearsome god, Phobos, son of war. It can feel like ice crawling down your back, or a trembling in your dominant hand. It can be a response to a traumatizing experience, or social anxiety that is derived from talking to someone new in a class. Whatever your fear, however significant or inconsequential, it is always valid because it is not necessarily something you can control.
Rather, the way I see it, fear can be viewed as a matter of boundaries. If social interaction or horror movies make you uncomfortable, it is not always necessary to force yourself to experience them. But refusal to do a certain action should always come with reflection about that action itself. When you feel aversion or fear towards an action, sometimes it is necessary to meditate on why that action makes you uncomfortable rather than vehemently denying its existence. Fear is often uncontrollable, but it is what you decide to do with that fear that defines your existence.
So as you celebrate Halloween and all that is spooky this year, I hope you not only celebrate the supernatural and mysterious, but also think about celebrating fear itself, and how it informs your perception of all things scary.