Insights from Dana
Let’s Get Real About Costumes

Happy Halloween!

I hope your life has been filled with fun, frivolity, and fantastically delicious treats leading up to this holiday.

Halloween has been associated with costumes since its inception.

Did you know that Halloween is actually 2,000 years old?

Its origins are in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in) and included costumes even then.

Sure, then it was to “hide” amongst (or appease) the ghosts people believed came to earth for one night and today it is about candy…

But seeing all the costumes this year got me thinking beyond Halloween.

What costume(s) are you putting on every day?

I think of a “costume” as a metaphor for pretending we are some way that we are not.

We do that as business owners – as human beings.

Where do you see this the most?

That’s right: social media.

We put a costume on our life to make it look a certain way (and live up to the Pinterest-filled dreamland we see all around us).

And while it is nice to keep up with people and friends, this keeps us separate because we don’t communicate what is actually going on.

We don’t want anybody to see the pain…

But the truth is there is both light and darkness in all of us.

If we acknowledge the light and not the dark we are reinforcing this idea that everything has to be great all the time.

(Newsflash: that’s absolute bullshit.)

People start to think things are terribly wrong with them if their dark comes out…

Or things aren’t as good…

Or they are having discouraging thoughts…

Or things aren’t working out as they hoped in the moment…

Or they are just having trouble.

(Like we all do from time to time.)

Instead of being leaders and serving the people who make it a point to follow us or read or keep up with what we are doing…we lull our communities into a false way of being.

And instead of coming closer to people, we put boundaries between us and others.

I say no more!

It is time to let down the mask.

Take it off!

Join me and show your face – your true face – to the world.

All of it. The light and the dark.

If you can’t do this all the time, at least do it enough so people know it is just part of living.

It is part of being in business.

It is part of being human.

Everything isn’t roses and apple pie and happy ghosts…and that’s ok.

Will you join me this Halloween and get rid of the costumes?

Until then…stay passionate!

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