How to Look at Life Challenges the Same Way You Would Approach a Jigsaw Puzzle  

If you’ve ever started a puzzle, sorting out the pieces on your kitchen table, you know the feeling: so many pieces to put together and the notion of not knowing where to begin. It could be a bit overwhelming – but then you realize that the activity was supposed to be fun in the first place. (So why the fear?)  Life can be like that, too: you start with a sense of excitement, of purpose and slowly get anxious that it might not all come together the way you intended. And, like a puzzle, there are lots of elements, things to do, people, events, and uncontrollable circumstances.

So what do you do when there is no box and no picture on top showing you the way through life? For starters, there is no shortcut. There is no easy answer to picking up the pieces or just putting them together in the first place. You have to do it piece by piece.

So, whether you have a 500 piece or 1,000 piece journey ahead of you, here are 5 tips to live by:

1. Start with the corners. Look for the cornerstones in your life that ground you. The elements that define who you are and stabilize you when things get tough. Is it family? Volunteering? Fitness? Religion? Always make sure they are firmly planted.

2. Find the straight lines. Life will always throw you curves, and roads taken may get confusing and veer you off-course, but look to the parts of your life that are clear to you. They may not be exciting, but they will guide you along the way and create a perimeter within which you should live your life.

3. Look for the obvious fits. The pieces that stand out to you and fit easily. Are there friends, mentors, or confidantes who stand out, and on whom you can count? Confide in? Like all things meant to be, they will be the place you go to first, they will get you started, keep you on a path and make you see things a little more clearly.

4. Sort out the rest with a system, methodology or process that works for you. It’s analogous to  putting like colors together and similar parts of words/phrases (for the puzzle, that is). In life you need a process as well — some type of routine that helps you organize your day and focus on the bigger picture.

5. Take breaks when you get stuck and nothing seems to be working for you. This is the time to step back so that you can look at things with a fresh eye later. Sometimes when you look at the same thing too long it can play tricks on you, blur your clarity and create frustration and distress. Don’t just plow through this period. You will be better served to refocus with a fresh mind—the proverbial “sleep on it.”

By now, you are thinking that the puzzle theory sounds too easy to actually work; sure, it is a simplified way to deal with things.  After all, life does not start out in a neat packaged box. And we don’t always get to pick the puzzle we want to be. Sometimes we inherit other people’s puzzles and sometimes we lose some pieces along the way. Other times we force the wrong pieces together and even give up altogether!

Also, many may even look around and admire other people’s puzzles and envy how they have it together and how perfect it appears. But nothing is ever as it seems. Every puzzle—okay, let’s drop that now and just say it—every life comes together differently. Some are harder, some are easier, some have help, some take longer and others go along effortlessly in no time at all.

But every life has a starting point and an ending point.  Every life is comprised of short moments that when put together make a story —  a picture if you will. Piece by piece, they are assembled. And it doesn’t really matter how or why they got there, just as long as you put them there with honest intention.  Most things don’t come together perfectly the first time—that is why they call life a journey, and not a mission or an assignment. It’s not about what your picture looks like in the end, just so long as you make it uniquely your own.

And, remember, once you follow some simple rules to live by, you will approach things with a bit more ease and celebrate the small victories along the way. You will enjoy the journey more, stress over the set-backs less and find peace in the moments when it all comes together for you.  Just like well-fit pieces of a puzzle!