You all really need friends who are cheerleaders. Make sure to choose ones that will rough you up a little when your negative self-talk gets too loud. Like this:

I have another friend who is half-convinced “Strange Eons” has brought a plague of cicadas down on us all.

Despite that, she has been extremely supportive. Which I appreciate it – knowing you have a friend that will stick by you after you accidentally curse your shared city with a biblical plague is nice.

The cicadas really are everywhere this year.

This one was disgruntled that I didn’t run him over with my Jeep.

This one would have been disgruntled, but I’m pretty sure he’s dead.

I always move the cicadas off of sidewalks and away from tires when they’re drying their wings. I don’t like the idea of them getting squished.

I’m sure there’s a metaphor here about not letting your friends be squished-cicadas when they venture out into the world…but that connection is yours to make.