lockdown puzzle life lessons. loadshedding

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Lockdown brain-teaser puzzles can teach life lessons

If you are stuck without electricity, turn to old-fashioned pencil-and-paper puzzles and discover unexpected lessons for life.

lockdown puzzle life lessons. loadshedding

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Who knew that doing a few Word Search puzzles in loadshedding could teach so many life lessons?

In typical 2020 fashion, South Africa has had recent wave of load shedding. According to Eskom’s load shedding schedule, some parts of the country are cut due to high demand or maintenance at power stations. What this means for the ordinary South African is that we are now staying at home, staying safe and staying in the dark.

I was one of the unfortunate souls who forgot to look at their load shedding schedule and was left with a dead phone battery, a dying laptop and no WiFi or data. What was I to do?

Then I came across an out-of-date magazine and figured, why not? Reading the articles was slightly redundant as they were old news but the magazine’s games section kept me entertained for hours.

One feeble attempt at Suduko, a half-completed crossword and three completed Word Search puzzles later, I realised the value of these games goes beyond mental stimulation. Here are a few lessons I learnt during my lockdown afternoon.

Everything is right in front of you

Anyone who has done a Word Search puzzle before can tell you how frustrating it is to spend time looking for a word, only to find out that it was hidden in plain sight all along. Words will be right in front of you but everything looks like gibberish when you attempt to focus.

The same applies to life. It’s so easy to think about how much we have lost, or how much we don’t have and yet there is so much we still have. Things may appear hopeless or endlessly bleak, but if you look hard enough, there is a silver lining.

Opportunities do not always appear with big flashing neon signs but sometimes you’ll find them on small weather-beaten signs with fading text.

Take it slow and be methodical

As a young person in the early 20s, I feel as if I’m living on a countdown and that there are milestones I am expected to hit by a certain age.

It doesn’t help that my age mates around the country and the world as a whole are achieving their goals at much earlier times. There is a temptation to just power through everything and push as hard as I can towards my goals.

However, perhaps the truth is that it would be better to breathe, relax and take my time. There is no use in quickly rushing towards a goal when the goal is not well-defined.

tightrope lockdown loadshedding word search puzzles
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Will you get there? Yes. But you’ll be missing the valuable experience that goes with the journey and you might find out that you went to the wrong destination altogether.

Think about as walking on a tightrope: You have a good chance of making it if you run across the rope, but you have an even higher chance of falling off the side if you do.

Always consider other alternatives

When attempting a WordSearch, you do so with the knowledge that the word can appear in either direction, including backwards. This means that you have to be open-minded and look at all possible options before dismissing the existence (or lack of rather) of the word you’re looking for.

When going through life, we all have a vision and how we would want our lives to look like in the next year or 10 years. In the great words of the rock band the Rolling Stones, “you can’t always get what you want” but, if you try, sometimes you find that you get what you need.

Our dreams might never become our reality but it’s important to have a plan for every contingency. Sometimes, the alternative might even turn out to be better than what you originally believed in. If you don’t believe it, just take the word of the hundreds of thousands of people who are in careers which did not even exist when they were younger.

Sometimes you get more than you bargained for

One of the more infuriating aspects of playing Word Search is finding a word, and then realising that the word is not on the list. The excitement of finding the word is quickly dampened by the feeling that you’ve done all that for nothing. I have always wondered whether Word Search makers do this as a way of encouraging you to keep trying or as a way to frustrate you.

Either way, finding extras has a way of reassuring you. It’s as if the world is telling you “Well tried, try again”.

The universe is applauding your ability and encouraging you to take another shot. As annoying as it is to find a word which is inapplicable, it is important to take stock of the moment and giving yourself a pat on the back for effort.

It also encourages you to look at the glass as half-full and be proud of yourself for finding a word in the first place.

Detours can be good

detour sign
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The strategy to get through a Word Search is to be slow and methodical but sometimes the excitement gets to you and you end up finding words before you get to that part of the list. This is a nod to your skills and makes you feel as if you are on the right path.

The same often happens in our daily lives. We often dabble in new things only to discover that we are quite talented in that area. Sometimes we completely redesign the plan to focus on this newly discovered talent but other times we just add it to our existing skill set.

Either way, it is important to take detours every now and then because you never know where you might end up. Sometimes a detour can be a redirection to an even better destination.