Welcome back to Thank God It’s Monday!
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​tl;dr Everyone loves picking a costume, dressing up, embodying a new character, and pretending to be someone else for the day. We can use the same mentality to develop new habits aligned with the person we want to become, and not just for going out trick-or-treating.
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Consider what your absolute favorite halloween costume was. Maybe it was a mythical fairy princess or the secretive ninja. You put on the new uniform, wig, and makeup and transformed not only your outward appearance, but your role in the world. This character was not limited by the fears you have developed over the years, but free to assume the responsibilities of the fairy or the ninja with the confidence he or she would have roaming the forest or hiding in the shadows.
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For the night, you could be anyone you wanted to be.
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But for some reason, when we think about who we want to become (fitter, smarter, more patient, less stressed), we have a hard time deciding how we can achieve that new role when it’s not as simple as putting on fairy wings or a shinobi (never knew that was the name of the classic ninja outfit, thanks Google).

So how can we use this Halloween tradition to help improve our lives the other 365 days of the year?
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The first step is having a clearly defined image of who that character is we want to become. We know the fairy princess would have wings and a tiara, probably an optimistic and pleasant personality, and magical powers to keep the order of the forest kingdom protected. What defining features does your ideal character have? Confidence? Well-defined boundaries? A certain way of acting or dressing?
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Once we know what the character looks like, we can start donning the appropriate garb.
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While it may not be as simple as going to Spirit Halloween for our new look, we can start creating the environment that helps us become this person.
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So second is “dressing up” as the part.
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If the person you want to become is more fit, start dressing and structuring your environment to fit the role of “the more fit person.” Maybe that means buying a cute new workout set or signing up for the personal trainer you’ve been putting off. Those are all the “accessories” of your new character, so get them.
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It may also mean saying and thinking things more in line with the character than your typical tendencies. Typically, when your friends ask you if you want to go out for happy hour drinks, you say yes because you have FOMO or just because you’ve always done it. Instead, now you can play the part of your new character and think, “What would 'Fitter Me' say?” (Or you can sub in a character like fitness Barbie or fitness GI Joe). What would that character say? Maybe they would join for happy hour and just enjoy some Diet Coke. Or maybe they’d skip happy hour because they were supposed to work out this afternoon. Play the part.
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Asking what this different character would do helps because you’re not putting the pressure on yourself to change; you’re just choosing to act like your character.
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Third, keep your costume handy.
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When you adopt a new character, there is a bridge between who you are and the character you want to become. Some traits overlap, and some have great distances between them. So inevitably, there will be contention between your existence in this reality and the person you can become in another reality. But having the option to put on your costume again and embody that personality is always there.
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We are human and will inevitably slide back into tendencies we have habituated over the last 20, 30, or 50 years. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still change into someone new. It might just take longer than we want (it will inevitably take longer than we want).
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But if we keep our costume handy, then we can always put it back on. When we’re ready to give it another go, we can slip on the fairy wings or the shinobi and try again. So we must keep the costume handy for those times.
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One of my favorite costumes, of course, was becoming a Hogwarts student: confident and wise like Hermione, daring and gifted like Harry, and a good friend like Ron. Those traits all have overlapping qualities with who I am, but are admirable qualities that I can work towards anytime I want to pick my wand back up or put my Gryffindor scarf back on. Eventually it becomes less about the outfit and more about the mentality, but dressing the part always gets you ready to start.
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If you found some value in this, please share it with a friend you think would enjoy it! And let me know if you’d like to be added to get TGIM.
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This week, my podcast recommendation is from Science Vs. “Fiber Maxxing and Poo Maxxing, with Dr. Trisha Pasricha.”
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With that, it is 67 days until the New Year. I am doing a 75 Simple challenge, which you are invited to join, to compound three easy habits through the holidays instead of feeling like the holidays are leaving you bloated and exhausted. If you want to join, check out the page here https://walshwellness.kit.com/fc2a07432a.
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Happy Halloween!
Shannon