I recently completed a 1000-piece puzzle for the first time. Shockingly, I only sat down four times over the course of a week to complete it. I originally gave myself a month or so, but I did it much faster than expected. It felt good to see the image I put together one little piece at a time. After completing it, I thought about how life itself is filled with so many little pieces. When we are young, we often live carefree, unprepared for the unpredictable of life. There are times we don’t know where something belongs. We may think we have it in the right place but must move it somewhere else. But we eventually figured it out.
As someone who defines myself as being a planner, there are many times I question what happens to me daily. I think about if I could have changed my previous decisions to create a different or better outcome. I think about is it just me or if it is happening to others. Sometimes I think about if I should just move away from it instead of working through it. But in the end, I must remind myself that life also has 1000 little pieces. I must take the time to figure it all out. All areas of our life can’t be solved in one day. It may take a lot of time to figure it out. Sometimes more time than we want.
Having 1000 little pieces to make something whole is a good way to describe the life we live each day. Being patient in the process of completion helps prevent frustration and allows us to keep going. Using our thinking skills to be strategic about the steps to help us get through. And keeping a clear mental to keep the motivation alive to see it to the end. The only thing we can do it take it one piece at a time.