I like to keep my gaze focused on my goal rather than agonise about my path

Winners never quit, I would tell myself, and quitters never win, writes Louise O’Neill.

Recently, I was having a deep, meaningful, stay-awake-until-3am-chatting-type of conversation with one of my best friends, Cat. (OK, 10pm. I like to imagine I can still hear the Glenroe theme music once the sun sets and need to find my nearest bed immediately).

We covered all the important topics; work, love, grief, Biden and Obama’s adorable bromance, when we began to discuss ‘mistakes’ we had made in our past. The actions that we had taken that others had dismissed as idiotic, the decisions that friends and family had warned us would have catastrophic results and were usually proven correct in their estimation.