Purchased November 5, 2020 Raconteur Puzzle From the New York Public Library. This is her 1,000-piece puzzle, drawn by Australian artist Ilya Milstein, depicting a colorful scene of friends getting together, drinking wine, and generally living their best lives. It was a scene I had often seen with friends before the pandemic, and one I was desperate to recreate once it was safe.
Like many people, I entered the pandemic with a great hope and desire to use my newfound free time to start a hobby. I still remember the night. Spotify A dinner jazz playlist playing in the background. Nearly two years later, the puzzle remains unfinished.
Most people consider the inexplicable to be peaceful, but my highly ambitious (hence the 1,000 piece count) and overachieving self found the experience stressful and overwhelming. I realized… I had a dream to complete a puzzle in a few days, maybe a week. But when the weeks turned into months and it was time to pack up my Chicago condo and move to Ohio, my desire to be a puzzler vanished with it.
Recently, however, I decided to give the puzzle a try again. This time, as part of a virtual puzzle and bite hosted by The Self Care Suite, RVL Wellness Company, a jigsaw puzzle company owned by a black woman. Finally I found my mate.
My husband prepared my cocktail (thank you, bees) and took my daughter for a walk so I could solve the puzzle in peace. Many of the women mentioned how they started doing puzzles as a hobby following in their grandmothers’ and aunts’ footsteps.
In fact, Brittny Horne, the founder of RVL Wellness Co., went mad this way.
“I started messing around with my grandmother when I was a kid. She was the one who introduced me to them, and at some point, that became what I bonded with her,” Horn said. speaks. “She works on puzzles all day and has a room dedicated to puzzles. But as she got older, she paid less attention to them.”
And then the pandemic happened.A puzzle maker saw 370% year-over-year sales growth According to puzzle historian Ann Williams, this trend is comparable to the demand for puzzles during the Great Depression.
“It’s something you can control, but they felt that their lives were completely out of control as far as the economy goes,” Williams told CNBC in 2020. “It’s something you can win.” It is also an issue.
My perfectionism has prevented me from completing two puzzles so far (although this one only had 120 pieces), except that I haven’t won yet. meanwhile we all got together zoom As we worked hard to put the puzzle together and share our stories of self-care, I found myself feeling calmer… next piece.
Studies have shown that jigsaw puzzles improve visuospatial reasoning, short-term memory, problem-solving skills, and cognitive decline, can reduce the risk of developing dementia. Inexplicably, there are also mental health benefits.
As trauma therapist Olivia James told Wired in 2021, “Focusing on one’s mind so that it’s occupied but not overly challenged is great for people with depression, anxiety, and stress. Very helpful” activity offers “a little holiday from yourself”.
“Riddle-solving is a mental exercise that stimulates both sides of the brain: the logical side on the left and the creative side on the right,” says Horn. “Also relax your mind, enter a meditative stateIt really helps relieve some of the stress and provides peace and tranquility that lowers blood pressure and heart rate. “
Mystery is also a low-risk, high-reward way to disconnect from your device and reconnect with yourself and loved ones when needed.
“It helps to slow everything down and open up the space in your mind to think about how you’re feeling without all the distractions that come with social media and the world at large,” Horn said. “Additionally, dopamine is released in the brain, making you feel joyful, satisfied, and motivated to keep going.”
Coming to the end of the puzzles and bites left me feeling more frustrated than motivated, but ultimately determined to finish it. only time will tell.
