>>2538979>feel irrational fear of the dark and of what could be lurking outside my tentThat fear is very rational, not very useful any more as there are very few things out there that could pose a threat to us, but still, it is there for your protection. The creepy feels escalate (at least for me) with the see/seen imbalance, if i were to sleep in a clearing in a bright colored tent surrounded but undergrowth i would probably not sleep very well at all.
>>2539048 anon is right, becoming less visible helps in those cases, your monkeh brain knows you are harder to spot even if there really was something out there so you relax. Next time try to do low profile camping, best find a nice sheltered hole to crawl into (figuratively) and see how you feel about that arrangement. Another thing that can give psychological comfort is swapping your sleeping back to a nice bedroll, knowing you can silently "slither" out of it if you need is a nice reassuring feeling.
