Every year at Ordinarily Active we choose a theme that captures our intention for the year – a simple phrase that becomes a compass to guide us. This year’s theme is ‘ALL IN.’

To be all in means more than enthusiasm. It means commitment. It means deciding that something matters enough that you stop hovering on the edges of it. You stop waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect conditions, the mythical ‘perfect’ version of yourself.

You take that step forward, you have a bias towards action. You move forward knowing the path may be uncomfortable, unpredictable, even a little wild. You stop negotiating with yourself about whether you feel like doing the thing. Instead, you decide that it matters – and you honour the decision, not the mood of the day.

I have loved hearing how people have interpreted this theme in their own lives. One person recently told me, with a grin that could barely be contained, “I bought a fishing ski. I’ve wanted one for five years.” His eyes sparkled as he spoke. “I can’t wait to get out on the water.”

That is all in. You stop waiting for someday and choose to take action. For some it looks like movement. For others it is adventure, creativity, relationships, a sales pitch or finally saying yes to something they have postponed for years.

Within seven days I will be starting one of the toughest challenges I have ever undertaken: Expedition Africa. Five hundred kilometres of multi-disciplinary adventure, racing through wild terrain, navigating as a team through landscapes we have never seen before. Not unknown in the sense of uncharted territory, but unknown because we will only discover the course as we go – map in hand, moving forward checkpoint by checkpoint.

So what is the best way to approach a challenge that big? I’m not entirely sure yet. I will probably only know the answer at the end of March.

But here is what has been circling through my mind.

First, it is not a question of if something goes wrong. Accept that something will definitely go wrong. We will be out there for six days. Fatigue will stalk us. Navigation errors will happen.

Tempers may fray. One of my teammates joked that the race could easily be renamed “How to Lose Your Friends in Six Days.”

Second, operate from a place of gratitude. Let go of obsessing over the outcome and embrace the privilege of the opportunity. Very few people get to pursue an adventure like this. The real joy lies in the pursuit – the muddy shoes, the wrong turns, the shared suffering and the small triumphs along the way.

Third, believe. Confidence grows quietly through preparation and experience. Trusting your training and experience steadies the mind and quiets the chatter of self-doubt.

But the question I keep circling back to is the simplest one: How badly do I actually want it?

When the rain is falling, the legs are heavy and the map suddenly looks like a drunken scribble of lines and rivers, that question will matter. Because when things get hard, desire becomes fuel.

And sometimes the difference between stopping and continuing is simply remembering why you chose to go all in in the first place.

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