Find the Right Pieces for Your Puzzle
Cambridge dictionary defines a puzzle as “a game or toy in which you have to fit separate pieces together.” If we consider our lives or careers in this context, we may consider this to be an active and ongoing effort. If we have an opportunity to choose the pieces for our puzzle, how may we go about it?
The eyes through which I see my experience, myself and others, have grown and changed along with me. As I watch myself and look at those around me, I recognize how thankful I am to have had the opportunity to learn from so many incredible people, places, and experiences. My puzzle is a mosaic of color, words, ideas, similarities, and differences; yet I realize how much I still have to learn.
Growing up in a very small New England town, I was eager to seek out and find diversity. While my perspective was limited by my own experiences, I was also raised with and am thankful for strong family values. I worked hard to achieve an undergraduate college scholarship and attend a large university; I wanted to hear different ideas, see different faces, enjoy different experiences, and expand my own worldview.
I have been fortunate to find and enjoy a diversity of experiences, complemented by the influence of and interaction with amazing people, and expanded through diversity of thought. These experiences, people, and thoughts have added to my knowledge, contributed to my skill set, and heightened my awareness that there is still so much left to learn. The exposure to other ideas and different ways of doing things has enabled me to question, shift, or shed assumptions; and to consider alternative perspectives.
We each hold special and unique puzzle pieces. Find these pieces, put them together, trade, share, expand, and build. What pieces could you give to someone else’s puzzle? What pieces could you add to your own? Throughout our journey, we can assemble a basket of perspective, fill it with wildflowers of color, and embrace an incredible adventure.
