In case you haven’t heard, Cicada-geddon has hit some areas of the US, including the state where I live. Fortunately, they haven’t yet settled into my town. They’re nearby, because anytime I drive outside town, I can hear their loud chirping in the wooded areas. I had seen some posts on social media showing some hoards in the town where my mom lives. She had only seen a few at her house. But there were definitely a lot in town. We pulled up to a restaurant, and there was a tree across the street. There were cicadas surrounding it, creating a swarming cloud around it. Ew. We needed to get one thing from a hardware store, which put us right in the cicada radius. They were everywhere. I quickly opened and closed the door, then tiptoed into the store as fast as I could. I dashed back out after picking up what we needed, and I jumped in and shut the door. I made it.
A few blocks down the road, I heard the flutter of the wings and felt something against my leg. “There’s a cicada in here.” I was hoping it would just stay where it was, even though I wasn’t exactly sure where that was. I thought it was at least near the floor. Then I heard it again, and I put my foot over where I hoped it was. We drove the quick 5-10 minutes, and I hopped out, saw the cicada was still alive, grabbed it and threw it out of the car. Yuck.
I could not have had the door open for more a few seconds, but that’s all it took for one cicada to sneak in. It made me think about how quickly annoyances and issues can sneak into our lives. We can even know they’re close, yet not notice them fly by. What we do when we discover the issue matters. There was a part of me that wanted to scream, but it wasn’t going to be productive. The goal was to get the problem out of my space. The first step was to notice; the next step was to deal with it until I could remove it. It’s the same with annoyances and issues. The removal sometimes takes longer than we prefer. Awareness is the first step though.
What is buzzing around your life right now? Or maybe it’s something that’s stirring inside you. Either way, it’s important to pay attention, stay calm, and react with a plan. It might be time to clear the air.
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