When a storm stares down herds of cows and buffalo, the cows are able to feel the storm coming so they tend to run away from it, fearing what it might bring. Buffalo, on the other hand, confront the storm and run toward it, disregarding the feelings of fear and uncertainty that they may have.
This doesn’t make the buffalo fearless; they just fight through the fear and face their problems head on. All animals have fear, but it’s how they handle it that matters. In the end, they truly don’t know how bad the storm will be, and sometimes it’s best to get through it rather than prolonging it.
I had been running away from a certain storm in my life for some time now: the opportunity to broadcast my first game. I experienced a mental block and anxiety about putting on the headset and broadcasting to an audience.
That was my struggle until this week, when I was finally able to take the opportunity and broadcast my first high school basketball game. There was a certain calm before the storm, as I prepared for showtime, and in the end it all went by so fast.
I always had doubts that prevented me from taking up these opportunities. I finally realized that I had to stop running away from conquering the task of broadcasting for the first time and just go through with it.
I was running away from something that I had always wanted to do because the fear and doubt in myself was keeping me from trying something new. These fears and doubts can be found in many opportunities in life.
I had these thoughts until last week, when I had a conversation with a good friend of mine, who told me about the cows and buffalo metaphor. This was a revelation that I had never really thought about or considered, giving me some new found confidence and courage.
You never really know what will happen until you try it, and facing the storm straight on would be the only way to get through it instead of putting it off. Knowing this gave me the courage to try something that I had wanted to do for a long time.
So, don’t let the uncertainty and doubts creep into your ambitions. Don’t let fear control what you want to try and don’t run away from the storm. Face it straight on cause you never truly know what will happen unless you try.
