Imagine First, Then Make It Happen
Sometimes people ask me how I prepare for big moments, whether it’s a race, a storm, or becoming a mother. The answer is simple but powerful: I imagine. It helps me prepare for challenges, navigate change, and stay close to the life I want to live. In this article, I would love to share how I use imagination, both on the ocean and on land, and how it might help you too. :)
One of the strongest tools I have discovered, both in sailing and in life, is imagination. It is not about daydreaming or wishing things to be different. It is about truly seeing a situation before it happens, thinking about how you want to act, and feeling how you want it to be.
Imagination helps shape your actions in ways you might not even notice at first. When you imagine a situation clearly, you prepare yourself to recognize opportunities, to make small decisions that guide you toward the future you believe in. My mother always said to me, “Visualize it, and it will happen.” and over time I have come to deeply believe in that.
Right now, as we prepare for The Ocean Race Europe 2025 with Team Holcim-PRB, imagination plays a central role. Before the boat even touches the water, we come together and start picturing the journey ahead. How do we want to work together? How do we want the energy to feel on board? Which sails will we take, who takes which role, how will a training day look? We even imagine the details of race starts, how we move through the busy docks, the flow of a departure day, saying goodbye to our families. Every small picture we create helps us feel more ready, more connected.
We do the same with the race legs. Together with the team, we look at the route ahead. For example, when sailing from Kiel to Portsmouth, we imagine the weather patterns, the strengths we can build on, and the challenges we might encounter. By creating this clear picture in our minds, we are already preparing ourselves to adapt, to collaborate, and to move forward together. During the last The Ocean Race in 2023, I used imagination countless times. Imagining the moment the fleet would leave the harbor. Imagining how to deal with setbacks, a broken sail or a tough night shift. And it helped. Imagining gives you the tools to stay flexible when reality doesn’t follow the perfect plan. It’s like setting waypoints on a map: the exact route might change, but you still know where you want to go.
The strength of imagination has also guided me in my personal life, especially when I became a mother. Before giving birth, I spent months visualizing how I wanted it to happen. Calm, trusting, working as a team with my partner and our daughter. I imagined how I would breathe through contractions, how we would communicate without words, how we would welcome our baby together.
The birth turned out to be the most beautiful teamwork I have ever experienced. It was just the three of us at home, with the midwife arriving about half an hour before our daughter was born. Trust, connection, and presence made it possible. The techniques I often use offshore (breathing exercises, staying calm in big moments) became my tools during birth too.
Even in the weeks after birth, when sleep was short and the days were long, I could feel the same resilience that sailing teaches you. The strength of the human body and mind is incredible when you trust it, and imagination helped me see that path even when everything felt new and overwhelming.
How You Can Use Imagination
If you are facing a big moment, or simply want to prepare yourself better for whatever lies ahead, imagination can be your companion. Here are a few ways to practice it:
Create the picture. Close your eyes and see the situation you are preparing for. Where are you? Who is with you? What do you hear, see, feel?
Focus on the feelings. Imagine how you want to feel. Calm, focused, energized. Let that feeling guide your preparation.
Visualize the steps. Break the big moment down into smaller steps. What happens first, second, third? Picture the flow.
Stay flexible. Remember that reality might look different. Imagination is not about rigid plans, it is about being ready inside yourself.
Connect with your purpose. Imagine not just the result, but why you are doing it. Feel the bigger reason that moves you forward.
Imagination is a skill, and the more you use it, the stronger it becomes.
So if you are facing a big moment, a dream, or a new chapter, maybe take a moment to imagine. Close your eyes. See it. Feel it. And trust that the small steps you take today will bring you closer to the picture you hold inside.
After all, if we can imagine it, we can start to live it.
