Connection – More Than Just Completing a Puzzle
The most interesting thing about jigsaw puzzles isn't the picture that appears at the end.
It's the connections they create along the way.
Over the years I've come to realise that puzzles mean different things to different people. For some they're a personal challenge. For others they're an opportunity to spend time with family. For some they're simply a quiet way of sharing time with someone they love.
The puzzle itself is only part of the story.
Connection with ourselves
It never ceases to amaze me that puzzling is ostensibly a solo activity, yet it's full of social connection.
I know plenty of people who puzzle on their own. Some because they live alone. Others because it's their way of escaping the world for a couple of hours.
Yet they're still making connections. They love showing off a finished puzzle, swapping stories about the impossible bits and celebrating that feeling of accomplishment with people who understand. Competitions and swap meets naturally bring people together, but even without gatherings we're connected through family and friends who somehow manage to find the piece you've been searching for all afternoon, and through the stories we share about puzzles that nearly defeated us, favourite brands and pictures we simply couldn't resist.
It makes you realise that puzzling can be solitary, but it's rarely lonely.
Sometimes the connection goes even deeper.
A close friend of ours was only forty when her husband was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. Before he died, he gave her a 3,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. It wasn't simply a gift. As she worked through it over the following months it gave her quiet moments to think, remember and grieve. Completing the puzzle didn't take away the pain, but it helped her remain connected with him, one piece at a time.
Connection with family
One of my favourite memories happened recently while I was watching my granddaughter complete one of the tray puzzles I'd sent her.
Her mum was sitting beside her and I was watching on FaceTime. Every time she found a piece that fitted she'd hold it up proudly for both of us to admire. Even though I was hundreds of kilometres away, for a little while we were sharing exactly the same moment.
People often talk about puzzles as an early learning activity, and they're right. Children develop fine motor skills, problem-solving, language and confidence as they play.
But I think something even more important is happening.
Parents and children are talking. They're making eye contact. They're encouraging one another. They're sharing smiles and celebrating small successes together.
In a world where it's so easy for all of us to become absorbed by a screen, those face-to-face moments become incredibly precious.
The puzzle doesn't even have to be finished.
What children remember most isn't whether every piece found its place. They remember how it felt to spend that time with someone who made them feel important.
Connection in aged care
Perhaps the most powerful lesson about connection came from my aunt.
She spent more than fifty years caring for other people. First for her son, who was born blind and with a profound intellectual disability, and later for her husband after he developed dementia.
When they both died within a year of each other, she lost more than the people she loved. She lost the purpose that had defined her life for over half a century. She became isolated and withdrawn until she eventually moved into an aged care home.
I expected her to become quieter.
Instead, she flourished.
She laughed. She joined in. She made friends and became the life of the place. Looking back, I don't think the biggest change was that someone started caring for her.
I think she belonged again.
Designing puzzles has led me to spend time talking with carers, lifestyle coordinators and families, and one thing I've learnt is that puzzles are only one way of creating connection.
Music can do it.
Old photographs can do it.
Gardening, baking, folding towels together or simply sharing a cup of tea can do it.
Puzzles are another bridge.
And here's something I think is important.
The goal isn't to complete the activity.
Many puzzles in aged care are never finished. Someone becomes distracted. They wander away. They lose interest.
That doesn't mean the activity failed.
If those few minutes created a smile, sparked a memory, prompted a conversation or simply allowed two people to spend time together, then perhaps it achieved exactly what it was meant to achieve.
More Than a Puzzle
People often ask me why I design jigsaw puzzles.
Of course I love beautiful artwork, challenging puzzles and Australia's incredible landscapes.
But over the years I've come to realise that the picture isn't really the destination.
Whether it's a solo puzzler sharing their latest achievement, a child proudly fitting another piece while Mum sits beside them, or an older person smiling because an activity has created a moment of connection, the puzzle is simply the excuse.
The real picture is the one we create with each other.
That's why, for me, a jigsaw puzzle has always been more than a puzzle.
