4 Ways Your Life is NOT Like a Jigsaw Puzzle

Sure, I guess you could say your life is kind of like a jigsaw puzzle.

After all, you have a lot of pieces you have to fit together.

But, as you already know, it’s far more complicated than any puzzle you can buy in a dollar store, and that’s kind of what makes it so fascinating.

So, to make sure we don’t oversimplify things, let’s look at:

4 Ways Your Life is Not Like a Jigsaw Puzzle

Life doesn’t come in a neat, little box.

The pieces are strewn all over the place. You have to search for and gather them, and the search never ends. There are always new pieces to be discovered: new interests, new challenges, new information, and new opportunities.

You have to get out and talk to people, walk around, listen, observe, read, and explore. There’s just no other way to find what you need in order to put things together. In this way, you really do have to think outside the box.

Life doesn’t come with a picture on the cover.

You have to create your own. You have to answer the question posed by Valerie Young of Changing Course: What do you want your life to look like? But even that will evolve over time, because the pieces you find will alter the image.

Life has no discernible border.

The edges are vague and fuzzy. You don’t always know where one thing ends and another begins, but you have to move on without a border or nothing will ever come together.

Life comes with pieces that simply don’t fit.

Imagine if you were working on a jigsaw puzzle and someone played a trick on you. When you weren’t looking, they mixed in a bunch of pieces from a dozen other puzzles. Things could get confusing.

Well, life really is confusing at times. Not only do you have to decide how to put it all together; you have to determine what belongs and what doesn’t. Everyday you encounter things that really don’t add much to your life: messed up messages, bad ideas, limiting beliefs, and the wishes of people who may not have your best interests in mind.

Advertisers work to persuade you to spend your time, money, and energy on things that will only distract you.

Power hungry people seek to manipulate you.

Even your own sweet mother wants you to be a doctor or whatever it is you have no interest in being.

You have to develop a keen sense of what fits and what doesn’t, and if it doesn’t fit, you must omit.

Solve the Big Puzzle

No, it’s no easy task to piece a life together, especially one that’s purposeful and productive, but it’s well worth the effort, especially when you start to see the big picture.

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