TGON’s Monday Motivation: Halloween Edition

Halloween lands on a Saturday this year, which gives you a full week of build up and a very good excuse to watch something spooky every night. For this edition we left the slashers and the survival horror behind and went looking for the heroes who spend their days hunting monsters, casting spells, and casually insulting everyone in their path. Witches, slayers, ghostbusters, and one very unbothered Addams.

Five quotes, five different stories, and one common attitude: the scary thing is on the other side of the door, and they are walking through it anyway.

1. “Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?” — Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

This comes from the series finale, “Chosen.” For seven seasons the Slayer rule has been that one girl gets the power at a time, and Buffy has carried that alone. Here she tells her friends that the rule was written by men who died thousands of years ago, then rewrites it so every girl who could be a Slayer becomes one.

Buffy does not ask for permission or wait for a better system. She changes the rule and then hands the power to everyone else. If something in your week only works because “that is how it has always been done,” this is your reminder that you are allowed to change the rule.

2. “Saving people, hunting things, the family business.” — Dean Winchester, Supernatural

Dean says this to Sam in “Wendigo,” early in the first season. Sam wants to drop the hunt and go find the demon that killed their mother and Jessica, and Dean pulls out their father’s journal to argue they should keep going. The line becomes the show’s mission statement for fifteen seasons.

Notice that it is a job description, not a pep talk. Dean does not describe the fear, the odds, or the cost. He just names the work and gets in the car. Some Mondays are won exactly that way.

3. “The power of three will set us free.” — The Halliwell Sisters, Charmed

This is the spell from the Book of Shadows, and the sisters use it for the first time one day after they become the Charmed Ones. Piper’s warlock boyfriend Jeremy Burns has trapped them in the attic, and Prue and Piper start chanting it with Phoebe joining in. It works because all three of them say it together.

The sisters spend most of the show arguing, and the spell only works when they stop. Think about who is on your team this week and what gets easier when you actually say the thing together instead of separately. Three people with one chant beat one person with three hands full.

4. “For the record, I don’t believe that I’m better than everyone else. Just that I’m better than you.” — Wednesday Addams, Wednesday

Wednesday says this to Bianca Barclay before the Poe Cup race in the second episode of the first season. Bianca is the popular, polished siren and Wednesday is the new girl who has made no attempt to blend in. The line is delivered flat, with no raised voice and no hesitation.

She is not trying to be liked, she is trying to win. Walk into your Monday with a little of that unshakeable calm. You do not have to out talk anyone. You just have to show up sure of what you can do.

5. “We came, we saw, we kicked its ass!” — Peter Venkman, Ghostbusters

Venkman says this right after the Ghostbusters catch their first ghost in a hotel, and the hotel manager is demanding answers while Ray holds up the steaming trap. The team is brand new, underfunded, and still figuring out whether this business will work at all. They have just proven that it will.

That is the feeling to chase this week: the small, loud win that tells you the plan was not crazy after all. Take one thing you have been nervous about, go catch it, and then announce it to the room.

Which Halloween Quote Is Your Monday Motivation?

Five spooky favorites, and not one of them is staying home. Drop your pick in the comments and tell us what you are watching this Halloween week. If your favorite spooky season character did not make the list, we want to hear who it is.