The jigsaw puzzle progression.
Jigsaw puzzles have been around since the mid-1700s when John Spilsbury, a map engraver, mounted one of his maps onto wood and cut it into pieces to help children learn geography. Since then, the humble analog jigsaw puzzle has endured, despite digital entertainment inventions like television, computers, and video games. In fact, during the recent pandemic, demand for jigsaw puzzles spiked.
So what’s the allure of jigsaw puzzles, anyway? Exactly what is it about them that humans find so captivating? For some, the challenge of creating order from a chaotic pile of pieces is irresistible. For others, there may be a nostalgic charm—a reminder of childhood and simpler pastimes. For many, there’s just a deep sense of satisfaction that comes from seeing a pile of pieces come together into a recognizable image.
This past weekend, I started puzzling again for the first time in many years, when my man and I tackled a custom puzzle I bought us for Valentine’s Day. It’s a fun task to share with others; you quickly find out where each person’s strengths lie, and how to combine those strengths to work together. He’s great at finding those edge and corner pieces hiding in a pile, while I have an eye for detail so sharp that I can often pick up random pieces, compare them to the picture, and determine exactly where they should go.
However, there are always those pieces that are confounding; though maybe you can tell generally where they belong, you can’t tell exactly what they’re a part of or where they fit in until you join them with a similar piece, and then another and another. Pretty soon, you see how that first, seemingly meaningless piece, when combined with others like it, fits into the bigger picture.
When you’re puzzling over a puzzle for hours, you have lots of time to think. And while pondering this puzzle, I couldn’t help but reflect on how puzzle assembling is like so many other things we encounter in life—experiences, people and relationships where we can’t see the bigger picture until we’ve stuck around long enough to put enough similar pieces together. Looking back, it’s easy to recognize signs of good things to come, or those “red flags” of warning.
Like jigsaw puzzles, sometimes we can’t see a bigger picture of a life situation until we assemble enough pieces together. But we have a choice in whether or not we continue, and both options are strong; we can complete the puzzle and hang it proudly on the wall, or say, “I’m done!” and walk away.