Are You a Buffalo or a Cow?

Sometimes life’s greatest lessons are learned from nature

Colorado, home of the breathtaking Rocky Mountains, attracts more than 80 million tourists per year. Seeking adventure and scenic beauty, visitors from all over the world experience the unique topographical landscape sculpted by the climate changing elevation of the Rockies. Standing over 14,000 feet tall, the Rocky Mountains form a blockade between the Pacific Ocean and the rest of the United States. As winds blow in from the west and are forced to rise up and over the mountains, the moisture in the air condenses into precipitation. When cold enough, like at the top of the mountains, the precipitation will fall as snow, covering the peaks. When warm enough, like on the windward side of the mountains, precipitation will fall in the form of rain, creating lush greenery.

Due to this process, called orographic lift, Colorado is not only home to some of the most majestic mountains, but it’s also one of the only locations in the world to host high plains, deep canyons, crystal-clear lakes, and thick forests in such close proximity, creating the ideal environment for animals like cows and buffalo to cohabitate.

Although close neighbors and allies, when frequent Colorado storms roll up and over the mountains, the cow and the buffalo react completely different from one another, providing us with advice in dealing with challenges.

When cows sense a storm brewing, they begin moving in the opposite direction in an attempt to outrun it. Unfortunately, cows aren’t very good runners, so the storms tend to catch up with them quickly. Even when they begin getting pelted with raindrops and sideswiped by gusts of wind, cows continue to sprint in the same direction, effectively moving along with the storm, maximizing their time spent in the poor conditions.

Buffalo too, sense storms coming, but their approach in handling the incoming weather change is unique to the animal kingdom. As the storm is about to cross the peak of the mountaintop, buffalo run full speed towards it. Charging forward at speeds around 30 mph, the buffalo run through the storm, minimizing its impact, leaving it relatively unscathed.

Sometimes life’s greatest lessons are learned from nature.

We all experience storms in life. Some slow us down, many leave us bruised, battered and scarred, yet all shape our character. Believe it or not, the severity and frequency of the storms themselves don’t matter as much as how we face them.

Most humans run from their problems. When storms brew in the form of health issues, financial difficulties, or relationship struggles, our natural instinct is to avoid them - even if they’re unavoidable. As cows taught us however, that strategy typically leads to drawn-out pain and suffering. Buffalo, on the other hand, taught us that facing our fears and hitting them head on allows us to experience less frustration and quicker resolution.

The happiest, healthiest and wealthiest people in the world have undoubtably experienced tons of storms throughout their lives. How they dealt with them is what set them apart from the cows.

We can’t control the weather, but we can control how we deal with it.

Be a Buffalo.

Photo Credit:

1. Opensnow.com

2. New Jersey Business & Industry Association