The Paceline

That two-word sentence is uncool, never advised, not popular, and certainly non-traditional in the work ethic of competitive America.

Vince Lombardi, Winston Churchill, Zig Ziglar, J.R.R. Tolkien, and others shaped my attitude over decades. Recreational endurance sports forged my mental and emotional toughness to carry on the “grind.” Those lessons were engraved in my soul. I get it. I buy into it. 

Then I quit one day last month and learned another lesson.

A 20-year-old tradition in our home is to start a new jigsaw puzzle after Thanksgiving. We hover over the puzzle for minutes or hours most days during the latter weeks of December.

This soothing escape and puzzling distraction often lasts well beyond Christmas – depending upon travel, puzzle difficulty, and holiday parties not to be missed. 

Every puzzle has 500 pieces (rarely fewer). Every puzzle is ALWAYS finished. There is just so much satisfaction when each piece falls smoothly into place. A finished puzzle represents mission accomplished and sweet victory. Until a few months ago.

I thought that with extra pandemic time available, why not boldly try a 1500-piece puzzle? Fortune favors the bold. I was confident we could whip this out with just a little extra time on a little larger table. What a great idea to close out a hard 2020 with a nice win!

Our puzzle depicted 118 proverbs in a rich painting by Pieter Bruegel. Lots of color. Lots of detail. Lots of interest.

And lots of pieces. By March the unfinished puzzle still covered most of our dining room table.

So I quit.

It was a bitter pill to swallow even for something so trivial. The puzzle won. It was a hard loss. I don’t like getting beat. I have a natural aversion to giving up – not finishing what I start. The battle lasted eight weeks longer than necessary. I was stubborn – and miserable during the final weeks. 

“Never quit” is a good mantra. But I felt better after I quit. And I was better. We got our dining room table back. And I no longer had an unfinished puzzle taunting me every night at bedtime.

It took a while to realize my battle with the puzzle was consequential only to my ego. Sometimes it’s not only okay to quit, it’s recommended.

Lesson learned.

And one more lesson: this year, we’ll start a 500-piece puzzle.