Am I ever going to get there?

Yesterday, I was meeting friends for a walk/jog at the National Arboretum. I took a main road, but found it closed for a triathlon, so I diverted through a nearby suburb, but that way was shut for roadworks.

Weaving through the backstreets, I turned down another road, and it was blocked off with witches hats, meaning I had to double back in the opposite direction, only to find myself on a road that, minutes before had been open – but was now shut off with barricades.

At this point, I had that familiar, slightly desperate sense of “Will I ever get there?” It would have been tempting to think, “Maybe the universe is suggesting I don’t go today”. But I LOVE meeting these people each weekend. Doing so was going to require a little bit more effort than usual.

Eventually, I arrived, only to find the parking metre not working, so I tried another one – but that was also out of order, then I gave up on trying to feed in the coins and tried to lock my car – but it wouldn’t lock from where I was standing.

After our walk, we ordered coffee and a croissant, and the alert disc they gave me to signify that the order was ready was broken and didn’t go off, so the croissant was cold by the time I found it on the bench about 20 minutes later.

End result?

Spectacular walk, great company, exercise, gorgeous views, the crisp air of early Autumn and a smooth trip home another way, now I was wiser.

The shambles of the morning reminded me of other times in our lives when we come up against obstacle after obstacle and sometimes it’s really tempting to give up.

Over the last 18 months, a good friend has been trying to break into TV journalism. She had tutoring, applied to volunteer, offered to take on very junior roles (far beneath where she was in her current career) and she had knockback after knockback after knockback.

She’s now working on a popular TV show and loving it.

If the end result is important enough, it’s worth persisting – even when we fall down, or doors slam in our face, or we get lost, or can’t get through a certain way. Whether it’s our career progress, or weight loss, or looking for love, or raising children, or seeking a break on a creative project – it’s often worth the frustration of getting there, to enjoy the final view.

When do you quit?

There are times when we find ourselves on completely the wrong path for us. What matters is to check in with why we want to give up. ‘Finding it hard’ tends not to be a good enough excuse. If something brings more negativity to your life than it can ever bring positivity – if you don’t learn and grow through it, if you’re not contributing or improving, if there’s no ‘big picture’ and if you’re not connected any more with the reasons you started – then it might be right to let it go.

If it’s just that there’s a road-block or three – go around.

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