Coping With Trick-Or-Treaters: Ways To Ease Anxiety During Halloween

When I was young I literally waited for the cute costumes and spooky parades during the season of Halloween. As I grew older and became more independent, I developed a fear factor associated with haunted houses, spooky people, or horror movies. I tried to understand this fear factor a lot. That’s when I understood that the season of Halloween is the source of my anxiety.

Last year, when my anxiety was triggered, I didn’t know how to overcome or manage such feelings because I felt that very few people could understand what I was going through. After some time, I found that scary movies or haunted houses can trigger anxiety, especially during Halloween and it is not funny or enjoyable for all.

In this blog, we will be exploring some best and most effective ways to ease anxiety during Halloween.

7 Ways to Ease Anxiety during Halloween

1. Acknowledge the issues

If you are sure that your anxiety is triggered due to Halloween or trick-or-treaters”, you must not feel embarrassed as it will worsen your symptoms. One of the easiest things to manage your anxiety is to say, “I am completely okay and my feelings are natural.” Try to acknowledge your feelings so that you can stop being harsh on yourself.

2. Explore your feelings

After acknowledging your issues, it’s time to explore why you feel this way. Maybe you bumped into a Halloween party during your younger days, someone scared you, and now it’s the reason for your triggers? Don’t be too tough on yourself, calm down, and try to jot down all the facts in a journal.

3. Understand and accept the related trauma

After journaling down your feelings, it’s time to understand the sources and accept them. By understanding the source of fear or anxiety, it will become easier to think about how to dispute this irrational fear of Halloween. Acceptance will allow your brain to naturally process things and facts.

4. Explore ways to avoid such feelings

Now, that you have understood the source and accepted your feelings. It’s time to work on your anxiety levels so that you don’t have to feel this way without being difficult on yourself.

You must avoid visiting places or watching movies that level up your anxiety. But, if you feel ready to face your fears you can take the help of Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or exposure therapy to manage your fears and related anxiety.

5. Try mindful breathing

Mindful breathing is really effective for inducing a sense of relaxation within the body and mind. Whenever you feel anxious, you can try mindful breathing right at the moment so that you can activate the parasympathetic nervous system and it will help in turning off the fear or anxiety.

6. Try to reframe the situation

One of the best ways to manage or control anxiety during Halloween is to challenge your thoughts and try to reframe your thoughts. You need to make yourself understand that these dolls are fake, the houses are not scary, and the zombies roaming around are not real.

Try taking a moment for yourself and think, “Is this real?” Challenge your thoughts and reframe the situation by thinking about the facts and real stuff.

7. Find other ways to celebrate

It’s not important to celebrate Halloween if you are not comfortable with it. But, if you have FOMO at the same time, you can explore other healthy ways to celebrate Halloween. For example, try to cook new or unique dishes from the pumpkin, take out the candies and stuff for children in need or decorate your house in a festive way.

Social Anxiety and Halloween

If your anxiety is triggered by seeing a “trick-or-treater” at the night, you must work on building strategies to help you cope with social anxiety.

If you have severe social anxiety, here’s what you can do to handle trick-or-treaters:

• Consider making other plans or lock your doors so that you’re not forced to participate.
• If you are feeling okay this year, you can start with small, and try giving candies to the “trick-or-treaters.”
• If you don’t want to hand over the candies, you can simply watch a movie and lock your doors.

In case you have mild or moderate social anxiety, you can try:

• Hand out candy only when you feel okay.
• If you are feeling okay to face your fears, try wearing a costume that does not make you anxious.
• If you are feeling overwhelmed, you can also pass on the Halloween duties to a loved one, family member, or relative.

I hope this blog helps you manage your anxiety during Halloween. Comment down and share your views on the same. For more such content, connect with us on all social media platforms.

Thanks for reading!