Taking an exit too soon.

When we were first together, my husband  did all the driving. We were moving to areas
that neither of us were familiar.  We did not have a GPS and with my directional
dyslexia, me co-piloting with a map was useless.  When taking the journey to the
place that would become our new home, I had mapquest directions in hand. But
my Mr. Gordon was inclined not to believe mapquest and in several instances did
what created this phrase for us, took one exit too soon.   In each instance, just
one more exit would have poured us off exactly where we needed to go.   As our
relationship progressed and I got to do some of the driving, I was inclined to the
same action.

So now, we say “not an exit too soon,” when we feel on the cusp of giving up on
something. It reminds of of the maxim that some mighty discoveries have been                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           made just after recovering from the impulse to stop or give up.