Another way. You need to remember that, even when you think you’re all out of chances.

It is always so disheartening when you hear of a child who didn’t get in to their school of choice, when you see someone’s hopes being crushed on a talent show, or a friend doesn’t get the job they interviewed for. Or, worse still, someone gets a devastating health diagnosis. It can seem as if there is no way out.

In Grand Designs this week, the client was embarking on a building project by herself, shortly after being told she had breast cancer. She would say that was the reason she was determined to succeed with her new house. It made me realise again that when the odds are stacked against us, we often muster the strength to defy them. Or as Dylan Thomas says, ‘Rage against the dying of the light’.

I do find that the resolve to not let circumstances win can help us keep going. It can be tiring and often too much but other times, there is enough frustration or annoyance in us to fuel a fight to make things better. It sometimes bothers my family when I step out to do something that they could do much more easily than me, but when I say ‘no! I am doing it!’ they know to stand down.

If we can let go of the things that are lost to us now, and accept that there are other ways, it can help us to keep on going. If certain things are impossible, look for what is possible. If we are fed up with wanting, look more closely at what is already within our reach.

Maybe you haven’t arrived at the place you always planned to be. Maybe that makes you sad. Just remember this: there is another path for you, and good things are waiting on it, if you have the faith, or the friends, to help you find them.