HALOWEEN or Thanksgiving!?

'Tis the season to be spooky?!

While many people love this season because of the beauty, honestly, my favourite part is Halloween!

Life has been quite hectic and I decided to finally take a break day and visit my favourite coffee shop. It's a small cosy shop which makes me feel like I'm home.

Sitting in the shop, I felt it, the sudden uneven breeze that made me shiver and was gone as quick as the wind, and that's when it hit me, Autumn was finally here!

It is quite a sight to behold as swathes of green trees fade away only to be replaced by dazzling amber, maroon, gold and bronze hues, with the Sun becoming less bright and intense, and days becoming shorter. Except for the fringes of Kashmir or Himachal Pradesh, most of India misses out on this beautiful makeover, which is determined by the seasonal movement of the Sun.

Living in pune, India, autumn for me is a slightly cold weather and occasionally rains with beauty beyond my imagination.

According to Amy Jane Griffiths, Ph.D, N.C.S.P., a licensed psychologist and professor at Chapman University, people hype up cooler weather because those seasons are often associated with events and traditions that evoke memories of happier times. "We all crave the comfort and security that comes with traditions and predictability," Griffiths says. "They may relate to joyful experiences with friends and family and provide something to look forward to," she adds — things like fall holidays, back-to-school season, or seasonal treats. To combat the anxiety and sadness that the coronavirus pandemic has created, people are looking to the fall and winter as a way to anchor themselves to feelings associated with comfort, belonging, and safety.

Biologically, cooler temperatures provoke positive reactions.

Sitting in the cafe in my comfortable oversized sweatshirt, sipping on their new fall drink of hot yummy cinnamon hot chocolate, makes me happy.

The smallest things in life can bring happiness to people and for me it just so happens to be this.

All I could do was feast my eyes on the beauty and think about haloween which happens to be my favourite holiday of the year .

I love haloween for various reasons.

It’s the only dark holiday, the Shadow holiday, the holiday for tricksters and illusions and things that go bump in the night. Wearing costumes, and seeing others’ costumes, is fun. Making haunted houses and decorating one’s yard gives me happiness.

While all the foreign countries celebrate Thanksgiving, India doesn't happen to have Thanksgiving and thus the cool weather of autumn hypes us up for Halloween.

Sipping on my hot chocolate, I remember all the times in childhood I dressed up as various scary fictional characters and went trick-or-treating. I remember dancing in the light rainfall with my friends . The perfect weather used to make us go on picnics and for hikes which I now miss as I sit and remember the good old days.

It suddenly occurs to me how we miss out on so much in life as life is very fast moving. Sometimes maybe, we should just take a break, admire the beauty around us, focus on ourselves, etc.

I've always liked sitting in this cafe and watching people. No, I don't mean that in a stalker creepy way. I often see old people come and relive some memories, or groups of friends come and have the time of their lives, or old friends catching up, someone celebrating something, etc and seeing all this gives me a sense of happiness.

Today also, I see a group of friends sitting and chattering excitedly and going on and on about the beautiful weather and about haloween parties. Listening to them makes me laugh as well as give me a sense of nostalgia.

In conclusion, sometimes we should all take a moment to sit back and relax while maybe enjoying the beautiful autumn view and a delicious cup of new hot chocolate.

It’s the only season out of the four that I can honestly say makes me feel like the best version of myself, and maybe that’s because it brings out the child in me. I’ve been racking my brain for the perfect adjective to sum up the fall feels, and it wasn’t until lifestyle blogger Actually Alexandra asked her followers on Instagram if they, too, felt nostalgic during the fall, that it hit me: Fall is every bit nostalgic, and maybe that’s why so many people, myself included, are so in love with everything autumnal.

It’s that the mindset of fall that makes me feel good both mentally and physically, not to mention the combination of crunching leaves under my boots, the Halloween sugar high to come, and the building anticipation for upcoming holidays, all of which share one common feature: They remind me so much of my past, of some of the best times I've ever had in my life. Fall allows me a second, third, fourth, umpteenth chance to relive those precious moments of my youth in well my almost adulthood.

So while everyone knows that summer has its legions of adoring fans, there are certainly those of us who go nuts for fall — and not (just) because it’s pumpkin spice season. We love that we’re not, as many people say,“giant balls of sweat.” We love to wear cold-weather clothes, and drink cold-weather drinks, and break out the boots and scarves and hats again. There are leaves to crunch and holidays to look forward to, a sense, for some of us, of new beginnings and fresh starts. It helps dissipate some of our anxiety and mental load.

Hence, autumn is a calming season for me and sitting in my favourite cafe brings me happiness.

Nostalgia relates to our positive past experiences, evoking a sense of hope and excitement for the coming months. Maybe you had a pumpkin or apple picking tradition with your family, or its the flurry of holidays approaching. At this time of year, the possibilities feel endless.

Professor of sociology Kathryn Lively told Huffpost*, “we’re conditioned from a very early age that the autumn comes with all these exciting things,” like going back to school, getting new clothes and supplies, and seeing friends. Additionally, we see autumn as comforting; we pull out our boots and scarves and get cozy while swapping out salads for soups.