While fall finally rolls around, relieving all Arizonans from the treacherous inferno called summer, and “Spooky Season” officially begins. While it is repeatedly blasted from the school’s announcements each morning, it feels as though the magic from my once favorite holiday has seemingly disappeared. Of course, it’s no one’s fault but my own. Yet I can’t help but struggle to search for and find this lost magic, when the spirit first split from my life.

Gone are the nights aflame with hearty jeering as my eyes remain plastered to the television watching reruns of Scooby-Doo on Cartoon Network, and I no longer concern myself with catching Nickelodeon at the perfect time to ensure that I will watch every Halloween Town in rapid succession. Furthermore, fueled entirely by the Kits-Kats my mother bought me, knowing full well that they are my favorite, I would ride into endless laughter, my life perfected. Now I only concern myself with assignments from school, like any other, weighing a multitude of factors on when to complete them, which ones are the most key, and what I can afford to not do. Here, I presume, the heart and soul of Halloween fervor died. Reflecting upon the 693 Freshman from the Class of 2023 as a Mentor, I discovered the flaws that faced me in my current predicament. Henceforth, I wish to retell the wisdom learned with experience so that others will not face the shortcomings that I do.

Friendships serve as the most valuable commodity that someone can earn along the journey called life. Even more so during times where the expectation is one’s company, as I would often find myself in a pitfall, yearning for friends. Through Costumes past, I can recite in perfect tandem everything that I have dressed up in some attempt at a duo outfit with them. From the classic Clones from Starwars years ago, to my sophomore year with Banana and Gorilla outfits. I relieve these experiences often as they remain ingrained deep within my happiest memories. I encourage everyone to make these memories happen, regardless of Classes, Extra Curricular, or Athletics don’t shy away from the potential to live in the moment. Take the opportunity to dress in stupid costumes, pull elaborate pranks on each other, and try to grasp onto every fleeting moment as though it was the last.

While Friendships fade with time as those once cherished graduate and pursue their career, or even doing the same leaving others behind. Family remains present and apparent throughout continued life. As college nears closer, I face the reality to leave the faces I see every day in the privacy of my home, and when I failed to consolidate in my friends I could expect a shoulder to cry on within my family. Now I look back, in pain, upon scarred memories. Not that I had inherently bad experiences, but that I could sacrifice the unconditional love that my family presented to me and fail to reciprocate. I would take back every time that I denied my mother the chance to make cookies, as I deemed it too “feminine” for my taste. I would want to always help my father set up decorations, no matter how ridiculous both he and I look while doing it. I would make sure to ride along with my brother on the day of Halloween, frantically searching for a costume since he failed to find one despite having a whole month to do so. The memories that I regretted most were the ones that I failed to make in the first place…

So for my sake and your own, make sure to live; invest in memories, relationships, and most importantly yourself. For Halloween’s past, and to make this one the best, do as the Viral Video once said “Go Stupid! Go Crazy!” and when you do so, you will find your own definition of Inner-Peace.