When you’re a kid, your fear of the monster under your bed isn’t about what the monster looks like, you’ve never seen it. It’s about what it could look like. What it feels like, breathing down the exposed skin of your neck in the night. If were you to peel back the sheets draped over that darkness to look it square in the face where it lives, you’d take away its power.

Your flaws, your secrets, your guilt. All those little bits of yourself that you keep locked up and hated inside you are a lot like that. The self destructiveness of our weaknesses lies in our inability to acknowledge and accept them. Get to know yourself. And the next time you’re laying in bed and sleep feels like such a distant thing, don’t be afraid to pull the sheets up from over your heart. Shine some light into the corners where your eyes don’t usually wander, and be forgiving of all you find there.