8 Life Lessons I Learn from Jigsaw Puzzles

My Mom calls me the "mad puzzler". When I get started on a jigsaw puzzle, I go totally into the zone and I'm moving fast. Other people puzzling with me often get frustrated because my hands are flying in front of their faces as I'm grabbing pieces to fit into place. It's always a good idea to split up the areas of the puzzle to minimize that! You work on that section... I'll work on this section... and later we can combine our sections!

The last few years, as the pandemic has kept a lot of us cooped inside, I've done a TONNE of puzzles, hundreds. I usually buy them for cheap in thrift stores and then, if they are complete, I'll sell them for a profit on Marketplace. Some are easy. Some are darn hard! In the process, I continually learn, or am reminded of, key life lessons.

1. It All Starts with Small Steps 

When you first dump all the puzzle pieces out on the table, it can seem a bit overwhelming. So many pieces! So many colours and shapes! How will I ever get this put together? It seems impossible! Especially when you're dealing with a large 1000-2000 piece puzzle. And let's not even talk about a 5000 piece puzzle!

It's the same in life. Some projects just seem so overwhelming that we are tempted to throw up our hands in despair and call it quits before we even get started.

The trick, as with many things is... you guessed it... small steps! With small steps, even a massive puzzle or a complex project can be completed. I find that if I focus on just the next small step... it doesn't take a lot for me to get started. If, on the other hand, I look at the big picture and see the mountain of tasks before me (or puzzle pieces), I get overwhelmed very quickly. So let's start with the first small step.

2. Get Organized

The first small step in puzzling is to organize all of the pieces. If it's a tiny puzzle, like a kid's puzzle, you can get by without this step. But it you're dealing with a larger puzzle, anything over 300 pieces, you have to get organized first.

I usually grab a clump of puzzle pieces and drag it in front of me. Then I start flipping over pieces so they are right side up. As I'm doing that, I'm also picking out all of the edge pieces and putting them in their own little area. Once the pieces are all right side up, I sort them based on what they depict. So if there is a house in front of a lake with some lawn and blue sky, I will be sorting based on that. All the house pieces go here. All the grass pieces go here. Lake pieces here and sky pieces there. There's usually a bunch of left over pieces that are harder to sort and they go into the "don't really know" pile. Then I pull another pile of unsorted pieces towards me. Rinse and repeat.

The sorting is often the most tedious part of puzzling. My sister hates sorting. She'll happily puzzle with me... after the sorting is done! I don't mind sorting but I hate it when the "I don't know" pile is big!

Getting organized first is an awesome life lesson as well. When I am facing a new project, like writing a research blog, I need to get organized first. I need to look at all of the pieces of knowledge that I have assembled and figure out how I'm going to organize this project. What are the key themes (sections of the puzzle). Once I've done that... then the writing comes waaayyyy easier.

Ever assembled a piece of IKEA furniture? Sure you have!! The key there is organization. They do a lot of the hard lifting for you, by having all the little nuts and bolts already organized. But if you just open all the packages and dump everything on the floor... you're going to have a hard time. If it's a small project... you might get away with it... but if it's a big assembly project... you gotta stay organized and keep all of those pieces in their separate piles.

If I'm building something out in the garden, the first step is always to get organized. To gather all the things that I will need and to keep them organized in their separate areas so I know exactly where to find something. There's nothing worse than looking for a specific tool and having no idea where it is.

3. Assemble the Edges

The next step in completing a puzzle is usually assembling the edge or the border. Those pieces are "usually" easier to put together. Once complete, the puzzle edge gives you something to work off of. I say "usually" because sometimes I've done puzzles where the edge pieces have a border image (like holly or ribbons) and ALL of the pieces look the same. Ugh. Every single piece seems to fit with every other piece. I then assemble the puzzle from the inside out, doing the border last. Those are brutal puzzles!

Working on a building project is similar. First step is to build the frame of whatever it is I am creating. If it's a new lean-to, I'm building the frame first and then putting the boards and roof on. Or if I'm laying pavers in the lawn, I'm mapping out exactly where they are going first, laying out a string on the lawn. How far apart are they going to be? What is the path going to look like?

With a writing project, I'm usually creating an outline (I hated doing outlines in school!). Oftentimes I'm not doing this concretely by writing out headlines, etc... but doing it in my head as I go along. And that's sometimes how I do puzzle edges as well... I will assemble the top edge of the puzzle first and then do the sky section. Then I'll work on the roof of the house and then the rest of the house. Which is sometimes how I write as well.

So, "assemble the edges" doesn't always mean assembling the whole edge. Sometimes you're working in sections and that's OK.

4. It's OK to Take a Break

Based on my past experience with puzzling, I have this rule of thumb regarding how long it will take me to finish a puzzle. I can usually get a 500 piece puzzled sorted and finished in 1.5 hours. A 1000 piece puzzle can usually get sorted and finished in 3 hours.

That rule of thumb was based on my experience growing up. But... back home, we had a stash of puzzles that we would do repeatedly time and again. When you've done a puzzle several times... it goes a lot quicker!! And those were "easier" puzzles too. My Mom was always great at assessing puzzle images in the store and saying "Nope, too hard, let's pick this one." She was always right!

The other thing with puzzling is... it's usually done on the dining room table. Soooo... if you want to eat a meal on the table... you kind of need to have the puzzle done and cleared away in a reasonable amount of time!

Fast forward to today and I have had to toss my rule of thumb out the window! Some puzzles, like the Wasgij ones don't fit into the rule of thumb. Nor do the Cobble Hill puzzles! Or some of the other ones that I have picked up in thrift stores. A 1000 piece puzzle might take me 5 or 6 or even 8 hours! Crazy!

I used to think that I should be able to finish a puzzle in one sitting. But I am learning that it's OK to do it in fits and starts. Maybe I'll just sort the puzzle this evening. And then tomorrow I'll work on the sky... and then I'll come back later and work on the house. And that is perfectly OK. We don't use our dining table for eating (unless we have guests) and so it's OK for the puzzle to sit out for a few days.

This is a huge lesson for me to learn with other things in life. It's OK to work on a blog and NOT finish it in one go. I can do the research today... and then work on a section tomorrow... and come back later to work on another section. And then later, I'll edit it and add photos and... Seriously... this could be life changing!

And it's not just with writing. If I'm building something outside... I want to get it done in one day. And that isn't always possible. Sometimes Life happens and you get interrupted or you're missing something... it's OK to come back later and work on it. Heck... it's OK to just stop and rest and regroup!

For me... I hate having incomplete projects cluttering up my space and sucking my psychic energy with their nagging. But if I could just see it as an unfinished puzzle... that might change everything!

5. Mix it Up

I can't do a bunch of 1000 piece Cobble Hill puzzles in a row. Nope. They are beautiful pictures but they are brutal puzzles! If I do too many 1000 piece puzzles in a row, I get burnt out from puzzling. I know... weird thought, eh? But they just aren't fun anymore. So I mix it up!

I'll do some 500 piece puzzles in between. They are NOT multi day puzzles and I can usually finish them in a couple of hours. Or maybe I'll do a 1000 piece Charles Wysocki puzzle instead. They are super easy... love them!! Clear boundaries of buildings and fields and sky... soooo easy to sort and assemble!

It's the same in life... I can't do a bunch of hard, complicated projects day after day. I need to mix it up with some easier, simpler, less complicated projects. Little ones that I can complete in an hour or less. Something to give me a bit of a completion reward. Plus they are usually more fun! Ya gotta keep it fun...

6. It's OK to Say No

My personality type is a finisher. I will push through until the end and complete whatever is in front of me. No matter if I hate it or find it a waste of time. "I SHALL FINISH THIS!!! This will not get the better of me!!!"

That was my motto with puzzles too... until, early in the pandemic, I came across a 1000 piece Cobble Hill puzzle depicting a bunch of candy (exactly the same picture as here). I looked at the picture in the thrift store and thought "that's not so hard".

Hah!!! After struggling with it for hours and getting nowhere... I said "screw it". I tore apart the bit that I had completed, bagged it up and sold it on Marketplace. Life is too short to waste it on something that is not bringing you joy and is a massive struggle.

I've got a puzzle right now on my stack that someone gave to me. It's a fantasy style puzzle (dreamy painting) of a building on the edge of a marshy lake with a LOT of greenery. They sky and the water are both shades of dreamy lilac and pink. It's some no-name brand and I know that if I complete it... no one will want to buy it on Marketplace. But... it's sitting there. And someone gave it to me after they had done it. It's not he sort of puzzle I would ever buy for myself... but there it sits.

The conversation in my head is... "I should do this puzzle". But... I'm realizing... I don't have to do this puzzle. It doesn't look fun. It's not going to benefit me in any way. I can actually just... like... put it in the donate pile... and be done with it! Whoooaaaaa... mind blowing idea.

While I am slowly learning this lesson in puzzling... I still have to learn that lesson in life. A friend of mine loaned me a book back in... oohh... I guess March of last year. The novel is called The Books of Jacob by Polish author Olga Tokarczuk. The book sounded interesting - about a little-known Jewish/Christian sect run by a "Messiah" in Poland during the 1700s. The book has won all sorts of prizes and the author is "one of the most critically acclaimed and successful authors of her generation in Poland; in 2019, she was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature as the first Polish female prose writer for "a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life". " Like... sound fascinating, right? My friend said it blew his mind!

Now... the book is over 900 pages... quite a heavy tome. But I ploughed into it. And quickly got bogged down. Like seriously bogged down. I can't even begin to describe it. It was dense. It was complex. It was boring as all heck. Look. I've read War & Peace by Tolstoy. It was a walk in the park compared to this book. I read one Polish reviewer who called it a "thunder slog". Perfect imagery. And a Polish friend of mine said that even he doesn't read Olga's stuff. And the friend who loaned it to me told me to let it go... that life was too short to waste it on books that don't grab you. But no... I would prevail!!!!

And I did. It took me months of reading 10 pages a day... but I finished the damn thing. And I regret spending so much time on it. I kept waiting for the flash of insight that would change my life and blow my mind. Nope. Never came. Never again.

So yes... it's OK to quit. It's OK to say... "You know what... this project is no longer fulfilling for me and I am going to toss it." Without finishing it. Yep... gonna work on this one!

7. It's Not Always Perfect

Sometimes... when you work on a puzzle... you get all the way to the end and... there is a piece missing!

This is a MOST annoying thing. All that work... all those hours... and the puzzle is finished... but it's not complete! You hunt around on the floor. Nothing. You frisk the cat's belly fur. Nothing. You look everywhere you can think of. Nothing.

It's still a nice puzzle... and at a glance, you might not even notice the missing piece. Except... the puzzler knows it's not there. But can we be OK with that?

Because it's actually a great life lesson. No matter what we do... sometimes things aren't going to be perfect. We will have missed something or made a mistake or... fumble a question in the meeting or miss a line during the play... whatever. Can we be OK with that? Can we cut ourselves some slack and say "Great job!! You stuck with it and... you know what... don't even notice that little wobble/bobble/mis-step." It's great just the way it is. 

8. Step it Up

Now, having said all that... this next one might seem to be counter-intuitive but... at some point you have to step it up and take on more complex puzzles. The 500 piece puzzles are just too easy. And even the 1000 piece puzzles get a bit boring after a while. Which is why I have some 1500 piece and 2000 piece puzzles in my stash. I've never done a 2000 piece puzzle. I think it's because I've never had a dining table big enough to handle it! But... we have a round oak dining table with two leaves to make it into a huge oval. I think it could handle a 2000 piece puzzle. The question is... can I handle a 2000 piece puzzle? I'll never know until... I give it a try.

Of course there are other challenges as well... like the aforementioned Wasgij puzzle. These puzzles have an image on the box but it's not the actual image of the puzzle! You have to figure out what the characters on the front of the box might be seeing. There are clues... but you are basically working blind with no idea of what the finished puzzle might look like. It's a bit of a mystery... but they are quite fun and doable.

 

Conclusion

I'm always amazed at how hard it can be to do some of the things above.

Doing just a bit and walking away... noooooo... I want to finish everything at once!!! I should be able to do this. I used to be able to do this! Ugh.

Saying No to a puzzle or to a life goal... nooooo... I have to finish everything that shows up in my space!!! I am not a quitter! I will prevail! Ugh.

Some of these beliefs... that I "should" be able to do everything at once... or that I am not a quitter... I'm not sure where they came from. But right now... they are not serving me all that well. At least not all of the time. Like many beliefs and rules of life... they don't apply to everything all of the time.

Sooo... I will take a dose of small steps and keep applying it to my life... and learn to be kind with myself!