Figuring out Problems Like I do a Puzzle

Sorry everyone. I am not sure what is going on. I have everything as is should be and the past two days, it hasn't posted. I can't seem to figure it out. I may have to shift things up a bit. Hope you enjoy them all a day late!

I learned something about myself the past few weeks. If someone asked me before today if I was a big puzzle person, I would have told them no. Just now, I typed "puzzle" in my search at the bottom of the blog and I was a bit shocked when I had about 10 puzzle post come up. I guess over the past few years, we have done more puzzles. However, I also learned other things about myself.

This puzzle was one of the hardest I have ever done. It is a mosaic where it is made up of little pictures that make up a larger picture. A few years ago, we tried to do a Winnie the Pooh mosaic and it took so long that we never finished it. We (I need to change that to I) started this a month ago. For some reason the girls weren't interested in the puzzle. My guess is that it was so hard.

I sorted the pieces by outside and inside first. Then, I sorted them by color. Then, shade of color, then when I got to the place where it was all the same color and many of the same little pictures over and over, what do you do?

The puzzle came with a sheet showing the enlarged picture so you can see the little pictures more clearly. However, I never used that. I found myself sorting the puzzle pieces by shape.

I lined up each color pieces by shape size. When I would finish one color, I would start sorting the new color by puzzle piece shape. I found out that there are some shapes in the puzzle that they use more often than others. That was interesting.

It wasn't until later when I was working on court documents that I found that I approach life and "puzzles" I have in my life, as I did the puzzle. I sorted them by category, then situation, then date. Like with Like.

A few weeks ago, I was overwhelmed by the thought of court. Just like when I started the puzzle. It was overwhelming and I could barely get myself to look at the edges of it. The puzzle, took me a month to finish. When I was stressed and couldn't focus on documents anymore, I would put on a movie and work on the puzzle. I almost pulled the puzzle off the table many times. I don't know that I have ever done that much of a puzzle alone in my life. Only at the end, princess number 5 came down and spent a few minutes helping.

After I finished the outside, and broke the puzzle down to colors, I could then compartmentalize them. I could attack one color at a time. Same with life. Deal with one thing at a time, finish it, then turn and face the next problem. Sort the next section by shade, then shape and piece by piece, it comes together.

Once I broke it down into smaller sections or problems, it didn't seem that overwhelming. I found by reviewing the court documents, I learned things about myself and noticed that even when I reviewed each email on issues, I broke down the emails in the same way. Each paragraph detailing different "pieces" which make the email into a picture of several issues, the many emails on issues, made up a larger picture, the many emails on different issues presented a large picture that once looked at when done, is very clear as a picture. Just like this picture of the box of the puzzle, the sheet that is larger showing more distinct pictures of the smaller pictures on the puzzle and then the larger puzzle done itself, the small picture on the box in itself would make it hard or impossible to do the puzzle without breaking it down. The larger picture they provided would probably have made the puzzle easier if that were the way I break down problems but to me, I couldn't look at the whole picture to do the puzzle. I needed to break it down into the smallest difference possible which for me made the puzzle easier.

I now know that I am a "puzzle" person in that almost everything I do in my life, I break down the problem into the smallest "piece" possible in order to fix it or put it together.

I give gratitude for learning this about myself. I can now just try to take a step back when I am overwhelmed by something and feeling like it is "bigger" than me, I can just focus on each piece.

I know that each of my girls attack puzzles differently and there are millions of ways to solve each issue and none are any better as we each need to do it our own way. Some ways may be quicker or more effective but if the goal is to get the puzzle done, does it matter how it gets done? For some, doing the puzzle is the enjoyable part, not just finishing the puzzle.

I was also amazed at how once the puzzle is done, after it took hours to figure, so much work that takes up so much space and time.... Once it is done. It loses its interest. You don't want it sitting there collecting dust. You usually don't want to sit and look at it. It is now boring. So, within seconds, all that work is crumbled up and put back into a little box and gone. Just like problems in life. They are time consuming, hours and stress but once they are done, you don't want to look at them, you move on and put them in perspective. They are a memory in a box somewhere. Life goes on and you enjoy a game this time, or a movie, or a vacation. Yes, sometimes, it is good to get that puzzle done so it can gain perspective, become boring and be put in a box somewhere.

Let me ask, How do you do your puzzle? No matter how you do it, I hope you enjoy putting it together and learn in the process!