These days I was in my room facing my darling and challenging 5000 piece puzzle. I had been buried in this task for some time now, obsessed with completing a picture of a picturesque Tuscan landscape.
Sitting on the floor, my back bent in discomfort and the pieces scattered around in organized chaos, I thought: Enough, I’m not going to waste any more time on this. It was then that a question came to mind:
Give up or persist?
Ah, who has never faced such a challenge, right? Be it a puzzle, a work project, a new language or even a relationship.
There are times when doubt creeps into our minds, casting the shadow of giving up on our most determined intentions. In my case, the puzzle became a reminder of those moments of indecision.
In each piece that didn’t fit, I saw myself facing the fork between giving up and persistence. I could just push the pieces back into the box and go back to my quiet routine, but something stopped me.
Maybe it was the unfinished image of a vineyard in the golden sun, or the fear of regret. Who knows? Giving up is easy. Its comfortable.
It’s like the sweet voice of laziness that calls us to a warm bed on a cold morning. “Why bother?” she says, “Why try so hard?”
Giving up and feeling like a failure
However, giving up brings with it an unwanted companion: the feeling of failure. And believe me, that feeling is colder than any winter morning.
On the other hand, persisting is a challenging task. It requires willpower, determination and a hint of stubbornness. Persisting is insisting even when all the pieces seem to be against you.
But persistence also has its prize, its reward. It’s like a delicious dish that is savored after hours of preparation in the kitchen.
So there I was, surrounded by a sea of puzzle pieces, pondering: give up or persist? A voice in me suggested throwing it all away and going back to watching my favorite TV series.
However, another, firmer voice urged me to continue, not to give up, to face the challenge until the end. And do you know what I did? I continued.
The Reward of Persistence
I pushed the voice of withdrawal away and dove back into the organized chaos of the pieces. Because, after all, life is a puzzle, and if I start to give up on the little things, who knows where it might end up?
In the end I finished my puzzle. Looking at the full picture gave me an indescribable satisfaction, a sense of victory. It wasn’t easy, there were moments of frustration and despair, but persisting was worth it.
So when they ask me: “Give up or persist: which path do you choose?”, I answer without hesitation: “Persist”. Because even if I fall or stumble or fail, I know I tried.
And, sometimes, beauty is not in the complete landscape, but in the pieces we put together along the way, thus building our path. Do you agree?
