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Ariadne’s thread - it is part of the Greek legend of when Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of thread so that he could trace his way through the labyrinth to find and kill the Minotaur and then trace his way back out. The thread is what allows him to backtrack if a path showed to be a dead end and then continue from there, exhausting all possible routes finally arriving at the center.

When I came across this legend, I felt that it applied very much to my own life’s path, and the difficulties I have been continuously facing since some profoundly traumatic events in the long past. Oftentimes, I’ve come to a dead end and felt ”this is the end” and that all hope is abandonded, that the world is falling apart again. But that is not really the case, I just forgot about the thread and to backtrack and try another path. In my mindless overwhelming darkness I forgot, that there are thousands of possible paths and that before I try all of them, my life is not hopeless and my life is not over.

And that’s why Ariadne’s thread is such a powerful metaphor for me. A lovely glass boat I bought few weeks ago incorporates this legend with a thread at the bottom of the boat, so I call it my lifeboat. I have a couple other essential things I’m bringing with me on the lifeboat. I’ve told myself today that I swear I’ll never give up because I owe it to everybody that I love today. 😊