I ran for my middle school cross country team.
I learned some surprising things.
Because I never ran a single race where I didn't desperately look for a rock to trip on, or a bump to roll my ankle on, so that I can fake an injury and wouldn't have to finish the race.
But I never faked an injury.
And I never quit.
In fact I learned to lean in when my leg muscles started screaming at me to find a way to quit, I could lean my body forward, and just keep one foot in front of the other to keep upright.
I learned that my body can handle more than it first appears to be able to handle.
During middle school, I lived in Billings, Montana. My home was surrounded by cows (literally-- they grazed in my back yard), and I was a short drive from Yellowstone, where I regularly saw buffalo.
Interestingly, cows and buffalo respond to storms in opposite ways.
A cow will look for dry ground and will lay down until the storm has passed. But a buffalo is different. When the winds are strong enough, buffalo face the wind and begin walking into it. They lean in.
This week, join me.
I want to be the buffalo.
I want to walk straight into the storm rather than lying down or faking an injury.
Storms come when I try new things, or do things that really matter to me.
And so I'm okay with storms coming my way. I just want to make sure I treat them like a buffalo.
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