Are You a Buffalo?

Recently, Sonya Johnson, one of our team members, shared with me an inspiring story that resonated strongly.

"When storms come, they almost always brew from the West and roll out toward the East. Cows can sense that a storm is coming from this direction, so a cow will try to run East to get away from the storm. Now, if you know anything about cows, the only problem with that is that they’re not really fast. So as the storm comes, it catches up with them rather quickly. Without knowing any better, the cows continue to try to outrun the storm. But instead of outrunning the storm, they run with the storm, maximizing the amount of pain, time and frustration they experience from that storm.

In contrast, buffaloes wait for the storm to cross right over the crest of the peak of the mountaintop. As the storm rolls over the ridge, buffaloes will turn and charge directly into the storm. They run at the storm, and by running at the storm, they run straight through it, minimizing the amount of pain, time and frustration they experience from it."

The moral of this story is that we all face storms in life, and no one is immune from them. However, we have a choice: Either we run away from the storms of life knowing full well that at some point they will catch up to us, prolonging our pain and frustration. Or, we could be like the buffalo, and accept that we are facing a storm and take it on strategically and with determination. Yes, we will experience the short-term pain of facing challenges head on, but by running at the storm, we will grow stronger, and we will get through it faster.