Puzzle Metaphors!
Summer time is slower in our house and I’m loving it! This means I have space for new things… like jigsaw puzzles. My daughter and I did our first puzzle together, and let me tell you, I’ve now got puzzle metaphors for days!
Here are my top insights from putting together 500 pieces of cardboard:
Sometimes you need to flip shit around. So many times in the puzzle-construction process I was holding a piece in my hand with all the right colors and edges thinking “I know this goes somewhere over here!” Then I’d realize if I just rotated the piece, or turned it upside down, I'd find the spot and it fit perfectly. What pieces in your life do you need to shift just so so that everything fits together a little more perfectly?
Sometimes you need to take a step back. I’d hold a piece, flip it around, try to put it in a different section of the puzzle, think about it some more, be confident it fit in a spot that it simply would not fit… until finally I’d put the piece back on the table and walk away. When I returned to the puzzle later, more times than not, I quickly found where that piece was meant to go. Sometimes we need to stop thinking and analyzing something in our life and take a step back. Return to it after creating some space and see what revelations you have.
You may need someone else’s perspective. It was great to do the puzzle with my daughter. So many times I’d hand her a piece and say, “I’m stuck. Where do you think this goes?” Sometimes she’d quickly find where the piece went. Other times we’d look together with her saying “Did you look over here? What about this section? Maybe it goes here” and with her guidance I’d eventually find the spot. What areas of your life could you use an outside perspective? Sometimes we need support, or someone to ask us the perfect questions, to find our way or next move.
You might think you have all you need and then realize something's missing. We got to the end of the puzzle and realized well, darn, we have 499 pieces! At some point we lost a piece! Maybe it was sucked up in the vacuum, maybe it was thrown out with the puzzle packaging, maybe it was never in the box. Either way, we have a nearly complete puzzle. What piece are you missing to be more fulfilled, take your next step, get to your goals? Do you not even know you’re missing something? We suspected a piece was missing ¾ of the way through, but didn’t know for sure until the end.
These thoughts from a 499 piece puzzle also relate to shifts coming for my business… Most of the pieces are here, some are in the right spot, others need to be flipped around, others aren’t on the table just yet.
Over the next few weeks I’m excited to share what’s going to be different around here! New ways to work with me and engage in your own growth and evolution. Some offerings I’m saying ‘buh-bye’ to! And with one big idea all I’ve done is shake the metaphorical puzzle pieces out of the box and onto the table. Much more to come as I put all the pieces together.
Thank you for being here! I appreciate you so much. And I can’t promise I won’t share more puzzle metaphors with you ;-)