Jigsaw Lessons

I spent the last four days working on a jigsaw puzzle with 1,000 pieces. This is my second time attempting such a feat. The first one was daunting and overwhelming. But the finished product was so beautiful that I asked my husband to frame it so we could display it in our home. He did. We have. With that initial experience under my belt, just the thought of the second puzzle of this size brought about mixed emotions that ranged from trepidation about the overwhelmingness (my word) of going through the process and excitement over seeing all the pieces transformed into the inspiring photo on the box.

From the beginning of the summer, this project has loomed over me, taunting me to step up to the challenge. For weeks I put it off for other more meaningful activities like sleep and candy crush lol. Yeah, not so meaningful but definitely less effort required. And then, the moment arrived, late Friday night. I had sufficiently exhausted all other time occupiers and decided NOW is the time to put together my puzzle. So I told my husband, “Honey, this IS IT! It's Puzzle Time!”

Around 4am on Saturday morning, I ended my first round of Puzzle Mania. I had the borders completed and felt pretty good about myself. In truth, borders are pretty easy because if it has a flat edge, it is almost certainly a border lol. No rocket science level of genius required there. The next round of Puzzle-ing got a little more challenging and I began to feel overwhelmed like I had two years prior. Thankfully, I like to see things through so I pressed on.

The days began to blur, I lost track of time, I stayed up all night, I went to sleep when day broke, I dreamed about puzzle pieces, I slept for a few hours and got up, and I went back to the puzzle. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I got a burst of new energy. It dawned on me that this process was filled with life lessons. The avid learner in me got more enthused about what the puzzle was teaching me than in completing the project. And then it was over. As the puzzle lay completed on the dining room table, I sat back and smiled. I was pleased with the end product. I was even more so overjoyed by the sense of fullness I felt from the lessons I received along the way.

Perspective * Perseverance * Patience * Purpose * Position * People

The first lesson I learned was about perspective. Perspective is a term that I, and others in my circle, use frequently. Therefore, it was already a significant term for me. However, working on the puzzle gave me a visual representation of the fact that how something is viewed, considerably affects how it is processed and responded to. As I tried to figure out where a piece belonged in the puzzle, I examined it closely, looking at its shape, colour, and any special markings on it. I came to realize that an image on a puzzle piece could look different depending on the angle I held the piece while looking at it. I could hold it in one direction and determine that it must be a part of someone’s arm and try to find the section of the picture that has an arm that looks like it. However, in turning it around, it could look like a shadow. And yet from another angle, it looked like a tombstone. With each turn, I was 100% sure it was what I thought it was…until I turned it again and it looked like something completely different. Nevertheless, it could only be one thing. Hence, until I accurately perceived what it really was, I could not begin to determine what to do with it because I did not know where it actually went. For the pieces I tried to fit based on the image on them, I learned to accept that not until I got the right perspective, could I fit it in the right place.

Lesson Learned: We can form wrong conclusions because a skewed perspective will lead to a skewed conclusion.

At the height of my frustration, I wanted to give up and convince my husband to finish the puzzle for me. At that point, I was a little less than halfway through. Thankfully, the little voice in my head that holds my “never give up” banner, whispered, “don’t give up, you can do this!” So I breathed deeply, gathered all the pieces that resembled the section of the puzzle I was working on, and diligently compared shapes and shades of colour until the entire section was done. As I went through that grassy section, I stumbled upon lessons 2 and 3 – perseverance and patience.

My spatial intelligence (ability to measure space and decipher patterns visually without the aid of instruments) is very low. Unlike my husband, who can look at a piece from 10 feet away and quickly figure out where it fits, I have to fit shapes by trial and error…and error…and error. To get to the end of my project, I had to persevere even though my deficiency made me feel stupid at times. Additionally, I had to be patient with myself, not need to be quick, and allow myself to go through the trial and error…slowly.

Lessons Learned: We have to be willing to persevere despite our personal shortcomings, and patiently endure the additional effort needed to accomplish tasks that are not easy for us.

During my arduous trek through the grass section, I began to see a pattern that led to lessons 4 and 5 on purpose and position. Despite my low spatial intelligence, sometimes a piece has such an unusual shape that you would have to be blind to not see where it fits. Unless...the space it is meant to fit in has not been “created” as yet. In the second half of my Pleasurable Puzzle-ing Project, I began to realize that even though every piece has a purpose, sometimes that purpose is not revealed until other pieces were in their position.

Lessons Learned: A delay in purpose is often the result of something or someone needing to get in proper position so that purpose can be fulfilled.

And finally, as symbolized by my husband inserting the final piece of the puzzle, we need people – Lesson 5. I did a lot of the puzzle by myself and enjoyed doing it, especially learning the lessons along the way. Nevertheless, I cherished my husband’s assistance. As the saying goes, no man is an island unto himself. I probably could have completed the puzzle by myself. However, it would have taken much longer and I would have missed out on sharing the experience with my husband. I love quality time! Needless to say, working on a jigsaw puzzle together was delightful.

Lesson Learned: Allowing people (spouse, parents, children, siblings, friends, colleagues) to share in our process leads not only to greater efficiency but also to shared experiences that enrich our relationships.