Right after I passed my driving test, I attempted my first ever motorway drive.

Here in the UK you aren’t allowed to take lessons on the motorway, so to say I was nervous at my first encounter of life in the fast, slow and middle lane was something of an understatement.

I was meant to be going to a day-long workshop about 80 miles away from my house. I’d studied the map beforehand and had written out comprehensive directions, so I was reasonably confident I’d be able to find my way there – if I could survive the trauma of switching lanes and navigating slip roads, that is.

What I hadn’t factored on was part of the motorway being closed due to an accident.

Suddenly, I found myself in uncharted territory, taking a totally unplanned and unprepared for route and this, combined with the ever-present fear that comes with being a new driver, sent me into a state of complete panic.

Barely able to breathe, I gripped the steering wheel like my life depended on it and chanted ‘oh fuck!‘ incessantly.

Instead of trying to find a new way to my destination, I bottled it and went back home.

Thankfully, nowadays, we have satnavs and Google Maps. If one route isn’t available to us, we have the technology to instantly find a new one.

I realised recently that there’s quite a neat parallel between how we drive and how we live our lives.

Sometimes, we can set ourselves a goal and the first time we hit a roadblock, we lose confidence and give up, heading back to a place of fear and disappointment.

I know writers who have done this, who have given up after their very first rejection. And I know from my own experience how tempting that can be.

But what if we approached our dreams and goals with the wisdom of a satnav?

What if, every time we encountered an obstacle in our path we reset our course?

What if we used the lessons in the setback to help us plot a better route?

Have you suffered a setback recently?

Did it leave you disheartened and wanting to give up?

Is there anyway you could use the satnav analogy to help you; and instead of seeing the setback as a reason to give up on your dream, simply see it as a course alteration in the right direction?