As a daunting puzzle gets closer and closer to completion and it seems like most of the patience has passed on, in the midst of these pivotal moments you may face circumstances which cause you to doubt if you will ever even finish. But within these moments is where the puzzle becomes so much more than a picture on a box top, but a true masterpiece.
7. Don’t give up until all the pieces fit, even if you lose a piece
I was recently doing a puzzle of Van Gogh’s starry night painting, which was quite difficult in all its abstractness. When I was about 75% done with the puzzle, I noticed my dog eating something on the floor beside my chair. As I looked at my dog, who was quickly munching on an unknown delicacy, I was hit with the realization that it might just be a piece of my already time invested puzzle.
As I sat there realizing that my dogs stomach was not a place where puzzle pieces can be retrieved, at least not in the condition which I would want them back, I was faced with two options. The options of giving up and throwing away the last 2 weeks of hard yet still enjoyable work, or trying to finish a puzzle which would be short by a single piece.
I was determined to finish this puzzle, and finish it I would. So I continued on. Once it was 99.99% finished, it was confirmed that my dog had indeed eaten my missing piece, which was accidentally knocked off the table and onto my dog’s favorite plate. With only a single piece between me and completion, I decided to buy yet another Van Gogh of the same brand in hopes that the piece I was missing could be found among the 1000 pieces of a new puzzle. I made the decision that nothing was going to stop me from finishing what I had started, even if I had to make my own puzzle piece. The single missing piece would not stop me from finalizing the other 999 pieces, already in place, into a complete representation of Van Gogh’s classic masterpiece.
8. Don’t forget that there is nothing more rewarding then setting in place the final piece of the puzzle
After looking through the rabble of the 1000 newly purchased starry night pieces, I finally found the long awaited missing piece, which is the very one which is placed just to the right of the star in the image above. And with increasing anticipation, I methodically placed this final piece in the lonely vacancy, among the awaiting collection of connected pieces. With the action of placing a single puzzle piece, all the hard work was finally transformed into the simple feeling of success. This was the feeling of a puzzle no longer puzzling me.
Conclusion
In conclusion, throughout all the work it takes to find the place for every puzzling piece, keep in mind that eventually you will be able to hold that final piece in hand with only one spot left to fill. With nothing but one piece between you and completion of the picture which was once only a dream to be dreamt. This is the moment which drives every action which comes before it. Setting that final simple section in place, makes all the pieces so much more than just a collection of random, abstract confusion. But rather a complete and clear, once imagined, image.
In completing a puzzle, it is not the skill which determines the result, but the unrelenting drive to complete that which was started, despite what is faced along the way. If you choose to keep trying all the pieces which lay before you, then there is no other resulting outcome then sweet, sweet success.
Even when it seems that life has taken away your means to make your puzzling picture complete, just don’t give up, there will always be a way. Life is going to throw at you all that it can, and if it was any other way, then there would be no possibility of finding the greatness which can be reached in life. In the end, if you stay focused on what you truly desire, then one day the placement of that final piece will turn all of your hard work into a magnificent, one of a kind masterpiece, all your own.
Life, keep it simple and live it
Josh