I STILL can't sleep if the wardrobe doors are open - can you?

[morningpaper]

DH thinks I am bonkers but all wardrobe doors much be shut

Why? he says

Monsters! I say

Not sure really, but I can't BEAR wardrobe doors being open.

Am I mad?

[PrettyCandles]

Me neither.

And I make sure that trousers are never draped over a chair/stand/whatever with their legs dangling apart either. This is because I'm very shortsighted, and in the gloom and grogginess of a night waking I might catch a glimpse of them and think that there was a person in the room. For the same reason I hate mirrors in the bedroom.

Riddled with insecurities.

[DANCESwithLordPottingtonSmythe]

Not mad, perfectly sane. I am horribly messy but all wardrobe doors and drawers have to be shut before I go to sleep.

[milou2]

Me too, I even shut my sons' wardrobe doors if I say goodnight to them and notice they are open.

[LilRedWG]

I'm the same. When we had walk-in closets I asked DH to shut the door and he said,"Why?". "Because of the closet monster." I replied.

[Squirdle]

I'm the same! I have a little ritual before going to bed, check windows and doors. Utility room door must be shut, kitchen door open. Lounge door open, downstairs loo shut. The UR and DL are shut so that if anyone breaks in, they can't hide in there without me knowing I used to have to sleep facing the door, but can't in this house so have learnt to live with it.

I have to add this only happens when DH is working away (Mon to Fri mostly) but I have no idea why I am more relaxed when he is here as he wouldn't hear a bomb go off!

[Squirdle]

Actually this has just reminded me of something my nan used to do. If she was getting home after dark, she would always check under her bed and in the wardrobe for rogue men who had broken into her house!

I asked her once what she would do if there was a man hiding in her wardrobe/under the bed and she replied 'I have no idea, my dear' She also used to push a heavy chest up against the front door before going to sleep...actually thinking about it, poor woman must have been terrified...I know where I get it from now...thanks Nan!

[EachPeachPearMum]

There has actually been scientific research into this, and it is inherent in modern humans, a primal fear- BUT you're all weird because it is supposed to be MEN who are scared of the wardrobe being open, and women scared of something under the bed...

This is from ancient times, and sources of danger, when men would be hunting and have to go into caves, and women would be up trees being attacked from below.

[chunkychips]

can't relax and eat if the microwave/cupboard doors are open

[polecat]

Oh my God - I thought it was just me! def have a ritual before bed but I have taken it to the next level of worry. Always have keys and handbag by bed after seeing remake of Dawn of the Dead! Have also seriously thought about how to survive when the infected run amok in the streets! I get very sucked in by zombie movies

[lilysmummy2007]

im terified of under bed monsters, at 26 its pathetic to check under bed everynite to make sure, also under no circumstance must my feet be out of the blanket/duvet, even high summer and sweating

[chunkychips]

Just read the op and didn't realise this was about fear of intruders/monsters rather than just random rituals we perform, just in case anyone was wondering why I thought someone would be hiding in the microwave. I can't look out of a window if there's pitch black outside. My parents live in the middle of nowhere and don't draw their curtains at night (downstairs). I hate it, the thought that people can be looking in and we wouldn't be able to see them. Also have a think about mirrors (only in the dark though), have this strange feeling if I look in it, it won't be my reflection looking back, very weird. Obviously watched too many horror films.

[edam]

I have to have wardrobe doors and drawers shut but just because it would be untidy otherwise, don't think I'd be bothered about monsters.

I did wake dh up at 3.30 recently because I'd had a nightmare and was convinced I could hear noises and there might be in intruder though.

Thing is, I got to thinking about my sister who woke up to find an intruder had got into bed with her... it's hard to tell yourself it's nothing at 3am when you know something bad has actually happened to someone close to you. (Luckily the intruder ran off when she screamed but whole thing was terrifying, obviously.)

[DiscoDizzy]

I'm not bothered about wardrobes, but curtains have to be drawn properly, all lights switched off, front door locked (sometimes we forget) must have checked both DD's and our bedroom door closed too.

[serendippity]

Cannot, cannot sleep with even a crack of wardrobe left open! I also look under the bed , AND i sometimes even check inside the wardrobe just in case anyone is lurking within...I have improved however. I used to have to check behind every, door, inside every wardrobe and under each bed in the house before going to sleep, luckily we only have a small house..and i still do if dp is away
Oh and i'm the same as lilsymummy- feet must never be left out of duvet.

[Bonifacio]

OMG edam! I would now be able to sleep knowing that had happened to somebody close to me!!

I have to have the duvet pulled right up to my neck too, my dp drives me mad because he untucks all of his side of the bed so he can hang hos feet out!

Also if I go to the bathroom in the night I can't look into the mirror without the light on for fear of the candyman (sounds nice but he really isn't!!)

[chunkychips]

Hilarious OrmIrian, I do that too, dp has to be nearest the door, otherwise I feel really exposed. He can sacrifice himself if anyone comes in. Lived with a girl once who used to come in really pissed from a night out and leave the front door wide open and we lived in a really dodgy area of east end london. Could have been murdered in our beds countless times.

[edam]

Well, you don't have much choice, really, Boniface, unless you want to stay awake for the rest of your life. And it's my sister who needs sympathy, not me - poor girl has been on anti-ds for the past four years since it happened.