Do you remember when you were scared of the monsters in the closet?

As kids, we are scared of so many fantastical things. The monsters under our beds, the ghosts in the closet, the boogey man, and whatever else was out there in the dark.

I was scared of the ghost in the corner of my room, among other monsters, and it’s silly to think about now. I felt like if I slept fully under my blanket, I would be safe. So there I was, only my mouth or nose allowed out from under the blanket to get fresh air.

Everything else, was safe and protected. The monsters couldn’t get in.

As a teenager, I loved horror movies. I couldn’t get enough of them and I remember getting legitimately scared from them. I would worry that the monster in the movie was real and, at any moment, it would come bounding out of the shadows.

I miss that feeling sometimes.

As an adult, I don’t get to have that thrill. I’m not scared of the dark anymore. Instead, I get to worry about things like tornadoes and thunderstorms. Or gun violence and school shootings. Layoffs and unemployment. Climate change. Cancers. Pandemics. Microplastics. Aging. Mass extinction. War. Famine. Murder. Death.

Mostly, I worry about other people. Because, as it turns out, other people are the scariest monsters.