Why I keep talking about insects on a travel and anxiety blog

Before I start talking about this little cutie, I think it's worth explaining why this anxiety and travel blog has a category dedicated to cool bugs. They're a useful way to talk about resilience.

Not in the sense of how much bugs can overcome, though you really should read just how much the African Midge can endure, but in the little ways we can try to build our own resilience to phobias and anxieties.

I am, by nature, not a bug person. I grew up with a phobia of spiders, wasps... anything with six or more legs, I'd do my best to keep a long distance from. And to squish any expectations of a wholly triumphant arc to this short story, I'm still a little on edge when I hear the particular tone of Lizzie scream that means I've got a big house spider to move to a spot where she and it can live their lives in peace again.

But I'm certainly a lot more happy around insects and arachnids than I was. Some of them, I've come to really appreciate.

I can't recall exactly how it started, but at a certain point - probably 10 years or more ago - I became fascinated with ants and their societies. And once I'd read enough about them, and become interested enough in all their incredibly diverse ways of cooperating as a colony and of engineering environments to suit their needs - think of the fungus farming Leafcutter or, my personal favourite, the Weaver ant and the complex stitched leaf nests they build - I started to enjoy spotting them on walks or in my garden, rather than feeling a little flush of fear.

I started trying to apply the same logic to other insects and spiders I encountered. And, broadly, it's helped. I can move a house spider with only a couple of beads of moisture forming on my forehead rather than melting into a puddle of anxiety-induced sweat, I can encounter creatures like the little guy above and not assume he's out to get me, and even consider him an extra thing to enjoy on a walk in tropical countries, forests, mountains and anywhere else we might go hiking. House spiders... well, maybe they're just not interesting enough to me to let me start liking them.

If you're a person with anxiety and you're asking why the heck I'm talking about resilience to a common phobia, rather than resilience specific to the things I'd consider specific to my anxiety disorder, that is a great point to raise. I think the need to find ways to build resilience is common to both things. While developing resilience to some of your greater or more generalised anxieties might be more difficult or more complex - the 'try to find it interesting' approach I've taken to insects isn't going to help me when I'm going through periods of obsessive thoughts about existential dread, and it only exacerbates health anxieties - my experience managing this particular phobia is still a reminder to myself that it is possible to find methods to increase resilience.

It's hard, and it's not a cure for anxiety. I'm not one of those people who think that upward trends in mental health diagnoses are the result of a weaker, less resilient mindset among certain generations. But given that we're all so much more exposed to things that can cause anxiety - environmental worries, economic problems, social problems... you don't need me to list them all - finding time and ways to build resilience is increasingly important.

For now, take a moment to appreciate my friend at the top of this page. The European Firebug is a harmless, flightless, and very striking bug that you'll often find around the base of certain trees - lime and mallow trees are their favourites - but which we recently learned you can also find on Alpine mountain hiking trails.

They're also known for their mating behaviour, with some pairs copulating continuously for up to seven (presumably exhausting) days without taking a break.

If you simply have to see them for yourself, we can strongly recommend following in our footsteps and hiking the Cime de la Palu in the French Maritime Alps. Alternately, consider quickly booking a quick trip to Murcia in Spain, where firebugs are known as zapateros ('shoemakers' in English), which is currently experiencing a population boom.