What’s the scariest story you’ve ever heard? I’ve got one for you: There once was a senior at Scripps who got a phone call informing her that her 30-page lit review for thesis was due in less than a month. The review had to be written in French. The review was not even started. And – the call was coming from inside the house!
Halloween is a great time for scary stories, creative costumes, and tasty treats. Thinking back on Halloweens past, I’ve come to the realization that they may have taught me more than when to hit up the fancy houses (right before they turn in for the night – they will offload all their candy on you) and which candies to completely ignore (I don’t know anybody who’s ever eaten and enjoyed a fruit-flavored Tootsie Roll). Dim the lights, pull up a chair, and get ready for me to drop some knowledge. Lifeskills imparted by Halloween: it’s all right here, right now, on Beyond the Elms.
Negotiation. My best friend and I would convene, exhausted, in my living room after a night pounding the pavement in search of sweets. Dumping out our bags, we’d proceed to sort and organize our candy – by type, by flavor, by size. My dad would crack his jokes about me having a type-A personality. My friend would get tired of my meticulous organizing. Just when everyone was getting tired, I’d finish sorting and the most important part of the night could begin: negotiation and bartering. We’d scan our piles, separate out the candies we didn’t like, and begin figuring out which should be traded for what. Turns out my practice convincing my friend that my one mini Snickers was worth three rolls of Smarties had applications beyond did more than make my teeth buzz: it gave me the confidence to identify what I wanted and negotiate for it. Negotiation is key when discussing tasks, job expectations, and potential salaries.
Compromise. If one frozen Three Musketeers bar is delicious, then ten must be even better. Right? Eight-year-old Rose definitely thought so. My parents, on the other hand, did not want to have to deal with a sugar-charged child and definitely didn’t want our dentist to get upset! They set a limit on the candy I could eat, I challenged it, and we finally arrived at a number we agreed on. Compromise is necessary in everything: with a roommate whose habits may not mirror yours, when you have a mountain of homework and not enough time, when you’re offered a great job with a salary you don’t love. The art of finding that balance – overlooking the messy clothes as long as your roomie vacuums, accepting that you’ll just have to skim the reading if you’re going to have time to work on your problem set, agreeing to the great job and discussing a salary you and your employer are comfortable with. It’s not always the perfect situation, but compromise is necessary to get along peacefully with your coworkers, teammates, roommates, friends, and fellow human beings.
Time management. I grew up in a gray city, and it’s cold by the time Halloween rolls around. It gets down to the low 40s at night, and some costumes just don’t make sense with a big coat on top of them. To top that off, the city didn’t seem to feel it was necessary to illuminate the street lights before about 1am. It didn’t help that my street was full of scary older kids and ended in a cemetery! Each Halloween afternoon my friends and I got together and made a plan of which streets to visit, in what order, to maximize our candy haul before the sun went down, the lights went out, and the air got cold and spooky. We accounted for travel time, unexpected diversions (neighborhood cats, sighting friends, needing to stop and explain our costumes at each house), and necessary breaks (there’s a direct link between difficulty of costume removal and the frequency of the need to pee). We made sure to finish our trick-or-treating on one very fancy street, where we were rewarded with half a grocery bag worth of full-sized candy bars (and a story to dine out on for days at school). Planning out the most optimal trick-or-treat has helped me manage my time in college, at work, when I’m studying, and every time I visit a new city.
“Halloween” is practically synonymous with “Life skill building”! Well, maybe not yet. What are some skills you learned from Halloweens gone by?