Halloween characters stick with us for a multitude of reasons. Some of which is that they are timeless symbols, somewhat like negative totems, which have wisdom to share about people and how they interact with their world. Mummies are one of those and I’m not referring to the type which gives people birth and sends us into therapy as soon as we turn 18. (Although I do like a good “Your Momma” joke….)
Mummies (not the actual Egyptian artifact but they Halloween kind) are what remains of a life after all the actual living has been removed. It’s something that remains after it shouldn’t. It’s something that has dried out, dried up, and becomes bitter and vengeful and narrow focused on whatever it is craving: revenge, a lost love, power, wealth, etc. Think of it as the extreme corporate worker who never ever leaves work again and can never reach their quarterly goals.
This is a metaphor, a symbol for real people out in the world. Work/life balance is a vague notion to them, the goal is everything and they sacrifice anything that gets in the way. Even when it does them harm. Even when they know they aren’t happy and start coming to the realization that they are never going to achieve their goals and achievement won’t make them happy. Young ones appear to be workaholics. In mid-life people look for them to have a crisis, which they should, but they don’t. They may notice that their spouse has left them and they have no relationship to their children if they managed to have any, but that doesn’t deter them from their present course. Towards the end of life they live in a constant loop of things that they used to do, events that happened long ago but seem relevant to now, and all the life seems to have leaked out of them, but they are powerless to make any changes or take any actions to move them out of this rut.
Mummies are not something that you want to become (heaven forbid) nor the type of people you want to become attached to or associate with. Their drying effect can suck the life and juice from you as well with no benefits on their side. They’ll simply think you’re coming to your senses and becoming efficient!
So don’t let them in the door. And don’t let your goals evaporate all joy from your life. Get balanced, get happy, and shut the door in the face of mummies that try to make you toe the line, become practical, and do it right the first time. Maybe a night out in the rain will soak some sense into them. 🙂