Photo by Toni Cuenca: https://www.pexels.com/photo/two-jack-o-lantern-lamps-619418/
What scares you? Are you still haunted by the unknown of the dark? Chilled at the image of a clown offering up a red balloon from the depths of a storm drain on Halloween? Creeped out by spiders and snakes?
Some of what scares you today may be the same as what scared you when you were young – spooky sights and potential dangers can be timeless.
Still, as you’ve grown older and less naive, maybe even more brave, the list is likely longer than it once was.
Scary for you might be the upcoming election going differently than you hope.
Maybe it’s scary to send your child to school every day.
Or you worry silently to yourself that something awful will happen to you or your family.
Maybe you cringe at every ambulance siren you hear and wonder where your loved ones are at this very moment.
Maybe you live in fear that you don’t know your neighbors as well as you should and they could someday pose real danger.
Real life experience comes with real life fears. Fears that grow and change and influence who we are becoming as each year passes.
Halloween is a lighthearted holiday meant to emphasize the fun side of spooky. With free candy, creative costumes and lighthearted adrenaline pumping haunts.
But Halloween is also a good time to reflect on the things that scare you now and how they’ve evolved over the years. Here are some challenge questions to help get you started.
Are you more or less scared now (in general) than you were as a child?
How have your fears evolved? Are they more realistic now?
How have significant events in your life impacted specific fears you now face?
Will you work to overcome them or continue to live alongside them?
Which fears do you hope not to pass on to the little people you love in your life?
We at Memories In Writing want to wish you a Happy Halloween! If you enjoyed this exercise, reach out to our team for more information on how you can continue to share your own personal history via our DIY Memoir Products and Memoir Interview Services.
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