Genius vs. Monsters

You know how a lot of kids had to sleep with the closet doors shut to stop monsters from attacking in the night? I used to keep my closet doors open so I could verify that there were no monsters in there. 

What's remarkable about this is not the idea, but the self-esteem it built. I legitimately used to think this made me really smart. Like, I told my gifted teacher about it even, and didn't get why she wasn't nearly as impressed as I was with myself.

I also used to take a long, running leap onto my bed so that the monsters under my bed couldn't grab my ankles when I got close. How I was never diagnosed as some sort of child prodigy, I'll never understand.