When I was a kid, there was always something under my bed. It wasn’t just dust bunnies and forgotten socks, it was The Monster. Capital M. The creature I was absolutely sure waited for me to eat my fucking foot too close to the edge, just so it could snatch me into whatever dark underworld existed beneath my mattress. And even now, as an adult, I sometimes think the monster never really left watching me while I am not studying, or playing.
Childhood Monsters vs. Grown-Up Monsters
Back then, I would build best strategies to survive the night. A quick jump into bed from a safe distance. covering my feet deep under the covers (because obviously monsters can’t break through blankets, that’s the law no discussion). Sometimes I’d even leave a light on, not for comfort, but to blind the beast beneath.
Now, my monsters look different. They don’t have claws or glowing eyes. They’re things like deadlines, unanswered emails, loneliness, or the endless parade of “what-ifs” that sneak into my head at 2 a.m. Instead of hiding under my bed, they hide in my phone notifications, in the silence of my room, in the little corners of my mind I’d rather not look at too closely.
Why We Need Monsters
Strange as it sounds, I think we kind of need the monster under the bed. As kids, it taught us imagination, how to turn a shadow into a dragon or a creak into a growl. As adults, our monsters push us. They make us face things we’d otherwise ignore. Fear, in small doses, keeps us alive. Anxiety, in certain doses, keeps us alert. Even if the monster under the bed is just a metaphor, it reminds us we’ve always had something to wrestle with, and we’ve always found a way to survive.
A Secret I Never Told
The funniest part? Deep down, I think the monster under my bed wasn’t really out to get me. Maybe it was lonely. Maybe it was me, projecting my own fear into the shadows. Maybe it still is. So these days, when I lie in bed and that old childhood feeling creeps back, the sense that something’s watching, I don’t panic. I just whisper into the dark: “Goodnight, monster.” And somehow, it feels a little easier to sleep.