We get it. We really do. Sometimes you feel aimless, like your life is simply going around in circles. Today is like yesterday and the day prior, and the forecast for tomorrow indicates an 89% chance of more of the same. The slog is long.
Today, we’re here to provide some encouragement to you: At least ants know how you feel!
Yesterday, on the pleasingly insect-branded social media site BlueSky, Dr. Jane Waters shared an article – from 1944! – detailing a remarkable behavior of some army ants:
Formally termed an “ant mill”, this rather mesmerizing moving circle forms when nomadic blind army ants, guided by pheromone trails laid by their sisters before them, accidentally purchase tickets on a circular train with direct service to nowhere. As reported by the author of the study, T.C. Schneirla, most of the ants did not make it through the end of the next day. Thus, ant mills are more colorfully described as “death spirals”.
So, feel encouraged, wandering readers, that at least your aimless circle has left you full of life, continuing to step forward – minute by minute, day by day – into the uncertain future. And perhaps your path is not as purposeless as it seems. Ant death spirals inspired philosopher Dr. Briana Toole in her Philosophy Phriday reflection on echo chambers among humans. Who knows what unexpected inspiration your life may bring?
The Daily Ant 
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