Support Crickets: A Tribute to the Anxiety That Chirps When You’re Trying to Sleep

You could spend hundreds on sound machines, mindfulness apps, or guided meditations narrated by softly whispering strangers. Or you could simply open a window and let the crickets do what they do best: provide unsolicited commentary at inconvenient hours. Chirping at midnight? Naturally.

Crickets are often cast as nature’s ambient lullaby, but their true function is less tranquil and more evolutionary. That incessant noise? It’s mostly male crickets trying to attract mates or stake out territory. And yet, to the average insomniac, it sounds suspiciously personal. Just when your brain quiets enough to forget the thing you said in eighth grade, there it is: chirp. A reminder that silence is not a given. It’s a temporary truce.

Unlike your therapist, crickets do not respect your boundaries. They arrive uninvited and thrive in the spaces you’d rather keep still. This makes them ideal mascots for anxiety. Their consistency is admirable. Their message, even clearer: inner peace is for people without ears.

Oddly, there’s a kind of emotional resonance in their indifference. While the world insists you calm down, move on, let go, the cricket offers no platitudes. It just persists. That’s its whole philosophy. This mirrors the part of your mind that refuses to be silenced with herbal tea and half-hearted mindfulness.

So consider the cricket. Not as a pest, but as a minimalist therapist. It does not ask how you’re feeling. It does not care. And somehow, that’s comforting. Because sometimes, the healthiest response to mental chaos is not silence or serenity, but acknowledgment. Because yes, your anxiety probably chirps too.