When to Stop Puzzling

Anything you like — sometimes a little too much — can pose the problem of overindulging. I believe in the motto, “everything in moderation,” but sometimes it’s hard to moderate yourself, so you must make and follow rules. When I find myself puzzling past my acceptable threshold, this is what I do. 

I have a friend who likes to play slot machines. She realized it was detrimental to her wallet to play until she had her fill, so she laid down the law for herself. If she lost $100 or more, she would quit. Similarly, for puzzling, while no downside could bankrupt me, I can sit at the puzzle table for hours, when I need to do other things, like laundry, exercising, or writing blogs. 

Sometimes there are natural stopping points, such as when I have to pick up my son from sports practice, fix dinner, or go to bed. But other times there’s no bounds for how long I can puzzle, so I must set limits.

To give myself a prompt, I’ve invented a few guidelines to tell myself it’s time to wrap it up. An easy one is establishing that I will stop after I have sorted all the pieces, usually by color or shape. Another is timing out after I have put together the frame. Aside from those obvious time-limited phases of puzzling, I had to decide on other milestones that indicate my time is up for the session.

Sometimes, I look for certain pieces that have alluded me. Sometimes I choose a portion of the puzzle I want to complete, like the bird or flower in the corner. Sometimes I simply set a timer for 60 or 90 minutes or whatever span I decide is allowable, based on what I need to get done that day.

For me, puzzling can be a bit addictive, so I have to set exercise temperance. I’ve always been told a sign of addiction is when your life starts falling apart. Thank goodness, puzzling has never led to anything close to that. In fact, literally and figuratively, puzzling is about putting all the parts together for me. It’s a time to relax, work toward a goal at a measured pace, listen to some music, and maybe even have a glass of wine with a friend while we socialize and puzzle together, and sometimes it’s where I go when I’m stuck, for a respite from overthinking.

This latter aspect of puzzling has been cathartic for me at times. Working from home sometimes I will wander into my puzzle room, formally my sunroom, where I sit and fit together a few pieces while taking a break from the stresses of my job. It’s a perfect, productive way to spend a few minutes in between Zoom calls, or when I’ve hit a writer’s block. 

In these cases, a good stopping point is when I have another commitment to tend to, such as a work call. But I found my favorite way to wrap up a puzzling session is when I just feel it’s the right time. It’s an innate feeling that I’ve put in enough pieces to feel I’ve accomplished some, yet I leave with excitement to come back and finish. next to putting in the very last piece, this is the most satisfying way to stop puzzling. In the same way when you finally finish a blog and you feel you have said what you meant to say, and that’s it.