Facing the fear: Therapist reacts to “Enter Sandman” by Metallica
“Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
We're off to never-never land.”
“Enter Sandman” lyrics by Metallica
It's a nightmare setting here, right?
“I tuck you in warm within
Keep you free from sin
Until the sandman comes.”
He’s saying, “oh, you're not safe in your bed. I'll tuck you in. But good luck when the monsters and nightmares start arriving.”
In the music video, that kid's dreaming, he's falling. Those dreams are the worst.
“Dreams of war
Dreams of lies
Dreams of dragons.”
What sucks so much is you need sleep, right? Every single person needs sleep. Sleep should be a place where you feel safe, where you feel comforted. But so many people experience sleep as something where they don't feel safe, where they don't feel comfortable. Then nightmares come.
I think this paradox exists for people who also have struggles outside of sleeping. It's something that we need that we have to do, but it also causes us a lot of fear and a lot of anxiety.
People experience this with food all of the time too. It's like you need to eat to survive. But food for people is something that causes a lot of fear and a lot of anxiety. So what do you do in this paradox when something that you need is also something that you fear?
It's a really tough place to be.
The things in our life that we fear, that we struggle with — let's take nightmares, for example. Often nightmares come up because of unprocessed trauma. So it is our subconscious’s way of actually trying to help us process something.
A lot of our fears are that way. When we have fears around food, there's usually something underlying it: underlying pain, underlying trauma, something unaddressed that our fear is trying to get us to face. So if we think about that, what we are afraid of actually has something to offer us in our ability to overcome.
Our fear points to something that if we overcome it, it helps us move forward in our life. If we overcome the fear, the underlying pain that's unprocessed in our lives, that causes nightmares — not only will we have less nightmares, but we will also probably feel better and experience the day-to-day differently.
If we overcome our fears around food, not only will we be able to eat without anxiety, but also there are probably some body image things, some control things, that will feel better in day-to-day life.
So these nightmares actually symbolize something really important, which is a fear that needs to be faced. It’s a fear that is also a tool.
The chorus of this song actually gives us an exit light. We're leaving the light, we're venturing into the darkness.
“Take my hand
We're going off to never, never land.”
Let's face it. Let's do it together. Let us go off to never, never land and see what the fear-based nightmare shows us. Let's go on this adventure.
Listen to “Enter Sandman” that way. As you listen to it, see if you can feel motivation to face your fear. Rise up instead of fearing it. We face fear knowing that it has something really beautiful to offer us.
Instead of avoiding fear, let it show you what you need to see. It's a roadblock that gives you an opportunity to find a new and better path.
Go to the fear, enter it. Let's explore. Feel it. This allows you to enter the night of your fear instead of running from it. When you face it, it might get a whole lot scarier, and then usually it shows us something super important.
It is the difference between the nightmares happening to you, where you feel passive, you feel powerless over them — and taking the sand man's hand and going off to never, never land. It's a choice. It's that moment where you realize that this path that might be scary, that might be dangerous, is the path to victory. So take this opportunity to choose, instead of just letting it happen to you.
“Enter Sandman” is the moment of courage, it's the turning point, it’s the climax of a movie when the character realizes, “This is what I have to do, and so I'm going to do it. I'm going to face it.”
Take my hand. Let's go off to never, never land.
If you want to be someone who ventures into the darkness with other people, we have Metallica fans right now that are on our anonymous forum asking for support, asking for help. You do not have to be a professional like me to offer that support. We can give you an incredible training that I believe in wholeheartedly. It is useful for me and my work, and it will change the way you interact with people. It will empower you to help these fans.
Get started volunteering: heartsupport.com/swat
