The View from a Drawbridge

I tend to spend an embarrassingly substantial chunk of my life doing jigsaw puzzles on my laptop. Even when I’m watching movies. I have to be doing something. For some reason puzzles bring me a great deal of comfort and reduce my stress. But why is that?

After thinking about it for a day or two, I believe I have the answer. Puzzles have defined parameters. The rules never change. There are boundaries. Working on them is a way of bringing order from chaos. And as you make progress, the job gets easier and easier because you have fewer pieces from which to choose. With a puzzle, you know that if you just stick with it, everything will be all right in the end. You will succeed. And what you end up with will be pretty.

If the rest of my life were like a jigsaw puzzle, I’d be queen of the world.

[Image credit: besttoysforkids.fdicenter.org]