Life's Jigsaw Puzzle

"Sometimes our lives seem messy, incoherent, going nowhere. When life seems like this, think of it instead as a jigsaw puzzle that is incomplete. It may be difficult to work out how the pieces fit together; for a long time some appear to bear no relation to others. But if you work at the puzzle a picture will emerge and each piece find its place."

Jigsaw puzzle was one of my favourite pastimes. I stopped this hobby 2 years ago. Why? I bought a 1000 pieces one, put it under my bed and worked on it every night after work. One evening, I took out the half completed puzzle and put it on my bed. After about two hours, I decided to tuck the puzzle back under my bed so that I can start doing some household chores. I lift up the double A3 size puzzle with both hands stretched to both ends and still sitting on a chair. When I unfolded my legs to regain a better standing position, my knee jerked the puzzle hardly and all the pieces jumped into the air and fell onto the bed, my body and the floor. I was startled. I sat back onto the chair and stared at my broken jigsaw puzzle. Far back in my mind, I wished I can rewind the time for a few hundredth seconds. I can still remember my system shut down for a few seconds, trying to absorb the seriousness of the moment. The alarming neurons hit me on my nerves and I threw all 1000 pieces into a bin liner and chucked it into the rubbish bin.

I could not believe what i had done. How I lose my insanity and discard one of my hobbies! How I bury the poisonous, disastrous feeling in a mere second, without giving it a second thought! How I choose not to care, not to give a damn, not to give a f***ing sh**hole a**hole for the thing that I love!

I never regret what I did on that day. There were many other things that I can worry about. My feelings for the puzzle was not one of them.

Today, I found the above excerpt from a journal. And this is my version: "Most of the times our lives are messy, incoherent, going nowhere, like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle. It will be difficult to work out how the pieces fit together; for a long time some appear to bear no relation to others. You can choose to work at the puzzle for a long time until a picture emerges and each piece seems to fit itself. Or, after trying a long time, you still can't see the connection between the pieces, I suggest you move on to another area of your life. Hop on to another jigsaw puzzle. Leave the incomplete one without any regrets. The next puzzle might be your greatest achievement."

Tomorrow, I'm buying a new jigsaw puzzle. A 500 pieces one. I'm ready to embark on a new trail tomorrow.