There's nothing inherently scary about closets.

A child fears the closet because it's the only part of the room they can't see. It creates darkness.

Adults have more intricate closet doors that do the same thing - create darkness.

Anxiety and fear thrive in darkness. We aren't afraid of the dark - we're afraid of what our minds fill the darkness with.

Anxiety's Biggest Enemy‍

Give the mind an unknown and it becomes Steven Spielberg, crafting colorful scenes of things gone wrong and writing scripts of people berating you.

Luckily - we can direct this creative power.

Try this…

Close your eyes and imagine "something that might explode any moment".

...

No matter what you envisioned, there was probably some discomfort or tension.

Now, close your eyes again and imagine a bright red balloon. 

...

Both prompts could have described the same thing. But the second, more specific instruction likely caused less anxiety.

In her Book, How to Be Yourself, Social anxiety expert Ellen Hendriksen gives us a powerful insight about anxiety:

"The mantra of overcoming anxiety is specify, specify, specify. Why? Anxiety is often vague: Everybody will think I’m weird! Something bad will happen! People will judge me! I will do something stupid! Anxiety would make a great horoscope writer. It’s hazy enough that we can read just about anything into its predictions."

Next time there's a monster in your closet - open the door, let some light in, and take a detailed look. 

If you do find a monster in there, examine it with curiosity, ask it what it’s middle name is, and have it in for tea.