Life Is Like A Jig-Saw Puzzle
The first (and last) time I did a jig saw puzzle was over 10 years ago. It was a 1500 piece of the New York City harbour night view. With no experience and expectation, I completed it within 3 days and gave it away as a present.
I wonder if our life is just like piecing a jig-saw puzzle together. We determine the number of pieces by the way we view what our life would be like or perhaps how we want it to be. The more we desire, the more complicated (pieces) or challenging it will be.
The next step would be to decide how to start. (Luckily for me, I started with building the ‘frame’ of the puzzle, which proved to be a smart move.) We can view it as laying the foundation for our life – getting an education, choosing the field/areas we want to focus on etc. Along the way, we need to make constant reference to the final picture of the puzzle – which perhaps can signify how we think (expect) our future should look like.
Along the way, the most challenging part will be ‘fixing’ what is in the puzzle. We have to trial and error. Some will try to fit every piece in, some will separate the pieces according to the colours of the puzzle, some will base it on the contours of each jig-saw piece, some will get friends to help them. Some will find joy, some will experience frustration, some will lose track and some will give up or perhaps some will find another jig-saw puzzle to work on.
There is no doubt it is time consuming but the end result is most rewarding. In fact, the journey itself in piecing the puzzle might be more memorable and a precious learning experience amongst all other factors.
Life (perhaps) can be viewed in the same manner. Many get caught up with the end result that they forget to enjoy the process, to stay in the present moment.