On a winter morning in 2017, my 6-year-old son was engrossed in assembling a puzzle that was somewhat challenging for him. The children enjoy involving me in their activities, but with three kids aged 2, 4, and 6, I have to spread my attention as each one is engaged in their own game.

My son asked if I could help him with the puzzle, while I was practically glued to the artwork of my 4-year-old daughter (imagine lots of finger paint and glue). So, I guided him from the sidelines.

While doing this, it occurred to me how much life resembles solving a puzzle. We often have a vision of what our complete or "picture-perfect" life should look like, but we don't know where to begin.

Which piece goes where? We sometimes get lost searching for that one specific piece. Or imagine your puzzle is mixed with another, and you're unsure which pieces belong to yours!

While helping my son with his puzzle, I asked him about the piece he was looking for, its color, the image on it, and what he could already observe, much like in life's puzzle. When he struggled to quickly or easily find the right pieces, he got distracted and found something else interesting to do.

He then felt disheartened and considered abandoning his puzzle. This is a common experience in life: when faced with challenges and unable to find the right pieces, it's easy to become distracted and turn to other activities. How about you?

I often lose track of the larger vision I was working towards and find myself with valid reasons to pause my progress, promising to resume later...

Can you relate to this? Or do you secretly wish someone else would complete the puzzle for you, much like my son wanted me to do for him?

The truth is, it's YOUR life's puzzle. You can seek assistance to locate a missing piece or understand how your pieces fit together, but ultimately, YOU must assemble them.

I asked my son how he learned to ride his bike. Did he learn because I rode it for him? He looked at me and burst into laughter, understanding how ridiculous my suggestion was.

“Of course not, I did it!” he said.

And then he saw the relation to his puzzle: if he stopped trying, he wouldn’t finish it. If I would do it for him, it wouldn’t be his achievement.

It wasn’t much later that he looked at me with a very proud expression: "Mama I did it! I figured out how all the pieces come together and make the picture complete!"

If you need guidance to explore your own Puzzle of Life, schedule a free 15-minute Discovery Call and let's have a conversation!