11.18.14
Remember when you were a child and you obtained a new puzzle? Personally I always went for the huge ones with a thousand, two thousand tiny pieces which I’d immediately dump in a huge pile on the floor and spend hours upon hours working through. Hours spent staring at the image, the goal, until I had basically memorized it, trying to figure out which area is easiest, what section could this piece be in, where does it all go? Hours creating the decidedly easier border and working my way in. Remember the joy, the feeling of success when you finally place the last piece, fitting it perfectly in its designated spot? Remember sighing, stretching and leaning back to survey the fruits of your labor, to breathe and relax?
In an earlier blog I compared my learning process this year to that of a child’s. In that case Ponta Grossa is my new puzzle. As the days go by I find new pieces in the pile. Some I am able to immediately place in its designated spot while others I have put to the side, while I continue the puzzle and eventually find its connecting piece. I know when complete my final image will be my Global Citizen Year, one area connected to the others through a thousand small experiences, events, people, and emotions. Although I may not currently be conscious of what thefinal image is, what the final piece will be or how many pieces I have to place before I am done, I am realizing that it does not make sense to look ahead. Stressing and overthinking has yet to resolve much in my life so my only option is to face my year with patience, looking at the my end goals when I am lost or when I hit a rough point and then move on.
This week as my first training seminar approached, I was taken aback my how quickly the first portion flew by. I began to think about time: if I spent too much on the wrong things, on the wrong people. I began to question my year, my personal growth and whether or not I was taking the right steps to achieve my goal and it became very overwhelming. It was during one of these moments of overthinking, of mulling over an unknown future that my little sister approached me to play a game. “Don’t be sad, I am here to keep you company.” We spent hours after that playing simple games, forgetting, laughing. Those hours playing carelessly brought back memories of my own recreations as a child and the lessons there are to learn from a child’s happiness.
And another piece is placed.
