Welcome to Practically Happy, the podcast that helps you apply the science of well-being to your everyday life.

I'm your host Miranda Anderson, a public health nurse, master of applied positive psychology, and Mom of Three,

here to help you access some strategies for lasting happiness and fulfillment.

Each episode is a candid conversation,

meant to help you feel less alone in the ups and downs of your everyday life.

Listen in for some tools to feel more practically happy.

Hello, hello. Welcome back to Practically Happy.

This is episode number 307 and happy Halloween to those of

you who celebrate. It's kind of wild that we're already at the end of October and what I consider this official gateway into the holiday season that like slip slides us all the way through to the new year and then it's 2025 y'all and things are going to be different in lots of ways.

I wanted to just pause today and celebrate Halloween by talking about some really fun

psychological research studies that have to do with alter egos, with costumes, with the idea of

being someone different for a little while and I think that's so fun and

relatable on this holiday where we have the tradition of dressing

up.

And so I wanted to share a little bit about all of that with you.

But first I'm going to start with a quick life lately. This week was my first official week in my new role as the

employee health and wellness nurse with the Richmond

Henrico Health District.

That is just a fancy way to say that I am in charge

of the employee health and wellness, health,

including making sure they're up to date on their

required vaccinations and trainings for the different roles

...