The Buffalo

Most people spend their lives trying to avoid storms. They run from them. Hide from them. Wait for them to pass. And honestly, I get it. Storms are uncomfortable. They’re messy. They shake things up. They force us to deal with things we’d rather ignore. But life has taught me a hard truth. Some storms don’t go around you. Some storms don’t stop because you’re tired. Some storms don’t care that you weren’t ready. You have to go through them. That’s why I’ve always admired the buffalo. When a storm rolls across the plains, most animals run away from it. The buffalo turns and walks straight into it. By facing the storm, it spends less time inside of it. There’s a lesson there. Some of the hardest things I’ve ever faced got worse the longer I avoided them. Difficult conversations. Tough decisions. Fear. Grief. Anxiety. Problems I kept hoping would somehow fix themselves if I ignored them long enough. They never did. The moment I turned and faced them, things started changing. Not because it became easy. Because I stopped giving fear control over my direction. Courage isn’t the absence of fear. It’s taking the next step while fear is still standing beside you. The buffalo knows the storm is coming. It moves anyway. Maybe there’s something in your life you’ve been running from. A decision. A conversation. A dream. A change. A truth you already know but don’t want to face. If so, consider this your reminder. The storm isn’t always the enemy. Sometimes it’s the path. And sometimes the quickest way to peace isn’t around the storm. It’s straight through it.