Herbert, The Famous Goat-Elk

Last year, a group of neighbors here in Loveland, CO began to notice that a domesticated goat was ‘running’ with a herd of elk. The goat, which I’ve named Herbert, was rumored to live on the craggy rocks of Devil’s Backbone (a local hiking landmark west of town off Highway 34). Which brings me to my point: how high have I set my ‘squad goals’? What confidence did this goat have to decide that he was one of them? Was it sheer survival, or something else? It has even been reported that when coyotes attempted to attack their goat warrior friend, his elk family defended him as if he was one of their own.

There is much to be learned from this natural phenomenon. Do we reach too low as humans, stopping in our tracks to remember who and what we are, and then readjusting ‘down’ to temper our success? Or do we (new word inserted here) goat our way to a confident life? I have envisioned this new goatdom as a measure of pride in my own too-careful life. It is time. I must find my elk tribe and walk through higher pastures with my goat beard held high! #squadgoals #longliveMotherNature #lessonsfromgoatdom