Halloween is about ghouls and goblins. It’s about dressing up and pretending to frighten your friends and family. It’s about watching creepy movies in the dark. But, as an adult, none of those things are the scariest part of Halloween.

I would bet that most of us who live in neighborhoods where kids trick or treat purchase our candy long before Halloween. In our house we do, but that’s because we get a ridiculous number of trick or treaters (like over 200 in 2 hours). And if I tried to buy that much candy all at once, people would wonder how many kids I’m trying to Hansel and Gretel.

But I digress. The point is that we tend to have candy lying around the house well before the actual day. Which brings me to the scariest part of Halloween: loss of control. We start off with the best of intentions, right? We convince ourselves that if we hide the candy where we can’t see it, then we won’t eat it. But our brains know it’s there. I mean, we put it there for pity’s sake.

So then it’s just one little piece. And then we go back. Every day. Then twice a day. And before we know it, we are sitting in the linen closet surrounded by Kit Kat wrappers wondering how an entire bag disappeared.

We have all been there, so no shame. A lot of us have probably tried buying candy that we don’t like in the hopes of avoiding the spiral. Which just leads to us eating a ton of Necco wafers or circus peanuts and annoying the trick or treaters by giving out lame candy.

That loss of control happens simply because we have labelled the candy in our mind. Doesn’t matter if you tell yourself that you have a sweet tooth. Or if you call sugar “bad.” Or if chocolate is a treat. The fact that we have put any label on the candy, other than “candy,” sends our brains into psychological warfare.

All of these ideas indicate that this candy is only meant to be enjoyed by someone else. Someone who is better is some undefinable way. Or that the candy is off limits for you and you alone. Why? Eating a piece of candy doesn’t make your tooth sweet. It doesn’t make you bad. And it shouldn’t just be a treat. It should be something that you savor and enjoy.

Now, I’m not suggesting that we do a 180 degree about face and eat nothing but candy for the ten days leading up to Halloween. Can you imagine the road rage or the mid afternoon crashes that would happen on that diet? But there is nothing wrong with looking at a bag of candy bars and taking the time to savor a mini Snickers if you really want one.

Tell us in the comments what your favorite Halloween candy is!

Until next time, be well spooky friends!