Finishing the web, moving on

“PENELOPE is another of those mythic heroines whose beauties were rather those of character and conduct than of person” The myth says that she married Ulysses, but didn’t spend time with him because he had to go to the Trojan war. Everyday, she would work on a robe and undo what she had done that day. She would always start again the next day. “This is the famous Penelope’s web, which is used as a proverbial expression for anything which is perpetually doing but never done.”
If Penelope finished doing the robe, it would mean time had passed and Ulysses hadn’t returned. She undid what she did that day because it was a guarantee that she would never finish it. The finishing of the robe meant Ulysses hadn’t come back. If she started all over again the next day, it would never be too late for Ulysses to come home.
In a way, she was trying to fool herself by believing there was eternal hope for Ulysses to return. Her finishing the robe was a sign of her having to move on, without her husband. We humans tend to hold on to the things we know and are afraid to move on. We don’t feel capable of living differently because we see different as bad. As Penelope, humans have their own robe to weave and un-weave. There is always something we don’t want to leave behind, either a person a feeling or a thing.
The truth is, you can’t have something that doesn’t belong to you. You may try to kid yourself like Penelope does, but deep inside you know when you are being honest to yourself and when you aren’t. With time, you learn nothing is sure except death. Things come and go, and sometimes we have to leave the things we think are right for us because sometimes, that is the best way to learn.