[insomnia]

"What keeps you up at night?"

"My anxieties, wondering if I'm doing the right thing. My worst nightmares and my insecurities tend to keep me up at night."

"What is your worst nightmare?"

"All of my fears coming to a head. Especially with the future and not knowing--it kind of keeps me up at night. If I don't get into grad school, if I don't make my parents happy, if I don't make others happy...that's kind of what keeps me up at night. And I always go back through my day and overanalyze every situation you can think of. 'I should have done this thing!' or 'I should have said that instead of that,' just not being the perfect me that I can be. But I'm still learning who that perfect person is, and it's not perfect. It's the ideals that I've set for myself, and if I don't hit those...that's my worst nightmare.

"What gets you up in the morning?"

"The thought of a new try, and a new start to forget what happened the day before, although sometimes it's really hard. And a good cup of coffee. And knowing that I get to sleep at the end of the day, that it's not farewell to my bed!"

Isn't it scary when the monsters we thought were just under our beds appear to have infiltrated our minds, robbing us of sleep and stealing our joy?

Suddenly, The Boogieman doesn't seem that bad. At least there's a tangible enemy to be had, a tangible enemy that could be defeated, given the right circumstances.

But when the monsters come from within, grown from seeds of doubt carefully cultivated through years of self-judgment...then it really gets scary.

These monsters keep you up.
They keep you questioning every decision, every choice, every dream--every capability--you possess.
And, worst of all: they won't go away when you turn on the light.