Putting Together the Puzzle Pieces

Look, friends. I am no puzzle master. In fact, I’ve recently discovered that my life partner is potentially actually a bit of a puzzle master (or at least could be involved in competitive puzzle assembly).

Not me.

I’m slow to see the patterns and to put them together. (I also have very little patience with myself when it comes to things I do not do well.) We got out a puzzle recently that is 1000 pieces but looks pretty simple on the surface. For whatever reason, no one in my family has been remotely interested in working on it, so I (being the achiever and completionist that I am) felt the need to get into it.

And it has been painfully slow. Despite seeming relatively simple, it’s one of those puzzles where the picture provided does not easily match what you see on the pieces, and there are A LOT of very similar colors and shapes that all look like they could go together (but then don’t actually go together).

But today, I sat with the pieces for longer than I’d care to admit (I’m trying to take more breaks and to do more relaxing screen-free activities, so this at least loosely fits that category). Things went slowly. I could hardly find any matching pieces at all.

But then, quite suddenly and very unexpectedly, pieces and sections started to come together. I made more progress in thirty minutes than I had made in two weeks.

But here’s the catch, my friends. It took me really sitting with it. Grappling with it. Letting it be frustrating. Letting it be slow.

And then things opened up in the most unexpected way.

Podcasting is a lot like putting together a puzzle, but you do not have a picture or box to guide you. You have a vision of what it might become, but that vision is far from a reality, especially in the beginning.

Podcasting takes a lot of practice, of being in the space, of using the equipment, of time on task creating something to share. Often, things come together very slowly, and it’s unclear, even after a week, a month, or a year of releasing episodes, where exactly you are going. But you are on your way, and the best way to find clarity is to sit with it, to keep showing up, to practice.

I sometimes wish things could be simpler or at least faster, but it is often the practice itself, repeated over and over without obvious results, that creates a clearer, more complete picture.

It looks like I need to spend more time sitting with the puzzle pieces to see what else opens up for me. In fact, more time with puzzles could be good for all of us who strive to create something in the world.

[This post was originally published on Substack. Feel free to subscribe there.]