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Not today, Bobcat.
This is the story of a girl and her dog. And the day that almost ended.
I was sitting at my desk in the van, Atreyu was basking in the sun just outside, as he likes to do. We were in a friend’s driveway in a neighborhood in Tucson, Arizona. Fortunately I was on a zoom call that I was not facilitating and I was on mute. I heard Atreyu cry out and as I looked outside I saw a giant cat on top of him.
They were battling, he was squealing, and within seconds, I stood up, clapped my hands, yelled, “No!” and jumped down to grab the cat by the nape of it’s neck and toss it off my dog. At first I thought it was a mountain lion, but then I realized the patterning of its fur, and it’s size meant it was a bobcat. A cat the size of a labradore, probably 30 or 40 pounds and thus three or four times the size of my sweet chiweenie.
Atreyu, still crying out, ran under the van to protect himself. I pulled his leash to bring him back, picked him up and as I stepped into the van I saw the feline about 20 feet away watching us calmly.
I slammed the door to the van so we were safe. Atreyu was in fight or flight, he was growling at me and trying to bite me as I got close. I tried to touch him. I needed to know if he was injured. I said to him, “I need to know if you’re okay. You have to let me see you.” He bit, he growled, he didn’t seem to recognize me at all and was in total beast mode.
I lost my resolve and began to cry.
I didn’t know what to do or how to help him.
I picked up the phone and called my mother and came to a plan. I thought I should call the police, to let them know there was a wild cat loose in a neighborhood. I worried other animals were at risk if I didn’t notify some authority.
I was connected to “Fish and Game”. They told me it was common for coyotes and other wild animals to be in the area and I quickly found out they were going to do nothing about it.
Then I called the vet, I asked what it would cost to bring him in. I asked if they thought I needed to. They said yes.
The dog had found his way into his crate, so I gently closed the door and drove to the emergency vet. When we arrived, Atreyu came out of his crate sheepishly, he was whimpering but wanted to be held. As he crawled into my lap I tried to assess the damage. I lifted his front paws and saw one large puncture wound on his chest that was bleeding and knew then that we definitely needed to go in.
As soon as he was on the sterile steel table, I saw there were a handful of other places he was beginning to bleed. He had scratches on his chest, bite marks on his neck, and a paw-full of puncture wounds down his side.
The vet gave him a rabies booster, even though he’d just been immunized two months prior. They shaved some of his fur away and cleaned his wounds, then sent us home with pain killers and antibiotics.
He has recovered incredibly well. By the following day he was playing ball and running around in circles. His wounds are healing up and I was left with the feeling that all of this happened for a reason.
At dinner the following day, my friends and I joked about the potency, the badassery of throwing a wild animal off my pet. The feeling of saving the day and being un-phased by trauma. I didn’t realize how much the feedback from others would help me with the trauma I had undergone. Yet it did.
We were definitely traumatized, walking him in that neighborhood had me on high alert for the rest of the week. And yet we were victorious. We were triumphant. A murderous beast had come to take its dinner and we had thwarted its advance.
We coined the phrase “Not today, Bobcat,” and found it relevant to everything that came up during dinner that night.
I feel like sharing this energy. I feel like making this the motto for my year.
Not today, Bobcat.
We will not be stopped.
We will not be distracted or thrown from our path.
We will not succumb, or crumble, or cave in fear.
We will not be taken lightly.
We will push forward, and demand what we desire to actualize.
This is the energy of potency.
The energy of unfuckwithability.
The energy of choice, peace, honoring, and demand.
It may seem strange to take a bobcat encounter and make a movement out of it, but I’m overcome by this frequency.
When the beast arises to kill, to stop you in your tracks, to distract you from your path, it could be as simple as grabbing that cat by the nape of its neck and firmly tossing it aside. “Not today, Bobcat.”
Today we live.
Today we thrive.
Today we stand strong.
Today we explore who we are and what being “this” can look like.
Today is an adventure in possibilities.
Not today, Bobcat.
Maybe someday, but not today.
I invite you to take this with you.
“Not today, Bobcat,” is yours as much as it is mine.
When feedback, or trauma, or injury, or distraction, or self-doubt step into your field, you can look at it and say, “Not today, Bobcat.”
You can refuse to be taken off your path.
Refuse to compromise your truth.
Refuse to negotiate with the demons.
Refuse to give in to the programming and settle for less.
Be unstoppable.
Be potent as fuck.
Be bigger than whatever bobcat you face, and toss it aside.
It doesn’t need to be angry, but it is fierce.
It doesn’t need to be violent or look a certain way, but it is a clear and unstoppable energy.
It is a demand of you and the world around you to be as you wish.
The rest is simply an act of surrendering to the flow, allowing what you desire to actualize, and being willing to receive it all with ease. The good, the bad, the scary, the messy, the beauty.
As Gary Douglas taught me to say, “All of life comes to me with ease, joy, and glory.”
Stay tuned for the podcast episode of this article:
Go to wildheartsriseup.com/podcast to subscribe!
