I spent a large part of the start of the year working on an article about a legendary man in the world of reined cow horses.  He had recently passed away from cancer, and my assignment was to recap his life.  I called a friend of his for an interview, a legendary horseman himself, and as I struggled to find a way to sum up such a talented man’s influence on the world, the gentleman said something that hit me; “He was all in as a cowboy”.  “All in” …what a way to live life!  My article quickly shaped into what I envisioned it as being, and even more.  

I carried “all in” with me. I thought long and hard about what those words meant.  When you’re playing poker, it means a player has put the last of their chips in the pot. They’re done.  They’ve laid it all out on the table and given everything that they have, right at that moment.  That’s not hard when you’re playing a game, but what if we lived our lives that way?  Why’s it so easy to quit, to give in, to fall short of our goals?  And why’s it so tough to be truly committed to a task, or to living a full life?

One day last week, I sat in the feed pickup with my husband, as he called for cows to come in and eat.  He hit the siren, sitting at the top of a canyon and I watched as cow’s heads lifted, bawled in his direction, and automatically turned to start trotting towards the noise.   At that moment those cows decided to commit, whether they are 100 yards or two miles away.  While they may slow from a trot to a walk, or stop to get a drink along the way, they let very little sway their mindset in thinking that absolutely nothing was going to get in their way.  They were “all in” and as little as any of us want to be compared to cows, I think we can all learn something from them.

The truth is, many don’t want the marred hands that a cowboy has from a hard day’s work, and frequently refuse to make a trek towards commitment in case there’s an obstacle along the way.  They don’t often risk confronting the honesty of defeat, when it grips their being and pins them down, leaving them to decide whether to get up the next day and try again, or simply surrender.  What amazes me most is that these cows, as they come in for feed, have the tiniest beacon of hope that what’s promised to them will be delivered, yet they still commit.  In life, people are often set up for amazing things and opportunity is knocking at the door, but it’s still not enough.  Fear continually trumps commitment.  But why do we let it?  

  In scrutinizing my own life, I seek to find the things I’m made of, and what I really want in living with fulfillment.  Do I use up every ounce of sunlight in each day in pursuit to chase my wildest dreams? And can I sleep well at night, knowing I did my very best to accomplish these things?   You see, it does not matter one bit where you’re from, what you do or what you’ve done; what matters most is that you strive every day to do things the best you can.  So, you don’t make as much money as one of your friends, or your job doesn’t land you at a certain rung on the social ladder.  Look at it differently than that.  Do you give 100% to the things you love and the goals in your life?  Are you “all in”?  That answer is all that truly matters.

There’s no point in doing things in a half-hearted manner.  Going through the motions isn’t going to help your dreams come to fruition.  Instead, the days when you’re most exhausted, maybe on the verge of tears, and more than anything, feeling like you have nothing left to give; those will be the days that make all the difference.  If in your life, you’re doing what you love, and you do so whole-heartedly, then it’s where you’re meant to be.  No matter what you’re called to do in this world, do it with all your being.  Commit.  Be present.  Go all in.  

 

“And when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called

you at this particular moment in history to do it.  Don’t just set out to do a good job.  Set out to

do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn’t do it any better…If you can’t

be a pine at the top of the hill, be the shrub in the valley.  But be the best little shrub on the

side of the hill…If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail.  If you can’t be a sun, be a star.  For it

isn’t by size that you win or fail.  Be the best of whatever you are.”  

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

**Written by Kate Sanchez