Once it's built it shall not be destroyed

This month I have accomplished something that I have never done before! I am so proud of myself and once I reached my goal the rewarding feeling stayed for a whole day and a half before I moved onto something else on my list of things to do. All right, I will cut to the chase: I purchased my own Lego sets and built them!

You should probably know I grew up as a Polly Pocket kinda girl, and a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world. I did have some vague memory of Lego that I did not buy myself (clearly) and did not build either! And the thing is, I used to play with whatever was built for me by the adults of the family and never dare to move a single piece of the holding structure. My space engineer cousin put together a tower that was taller than six-year-old me and we have kept it next to the TV for the good part of a decade! A ‘do not touch’ situation that the creator of Lego bricks would not approve in the slightest, despite my cousin’s best intention to get me into STEM from a young age.

Cut to me now, multiple degrees in Philosophy and coming home from end-of-financial-year sales with a bag full of Harry Potter Lego sets in the shape of books.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I opened the first packaging, Ravenclaw themed of course. All that popped out of the box were a few plastic bags full of tiny plastic pieces and an instruction booklet. I somehow never thought that would be the case, coming from my pre-built experiences with Lego, fully knowing that once something is built it shall never be destroyed. How did they advertise for a product on the packaging that is not what I am holding as I unbox? The audacity! Even the tiny characters are massacred among two bags! Did I pay money to IKEA this thing? Where’s my instant gratification? Who came up with the idea that to build a cabinet you needed fourteen pieces, six of which could have been double the size and four are apparently useless? What a scam!

As I sit there asking myself these questions while furiously turning page after page of the instruction book, I found myself poking in the last piece. And despite the boiling rage within me, I found all that oddly relaxing and satisfying!

Even the useless pieces!

Now I can look at my four Lego sets on the shelf and there’s a feeling of ‘I did this myself’ that I can’t apply to any of the other readymade trinkets on display.

I was still enjoying the feeling of my first Lego build when I accidentally walked into a game store and noticed Disney came up with more Villains puzzles, the ones I like a lot. I already have a few glued and framed, ready to hang on their forever-wall, and now I have a new one coming home with me to replace Lego on my makeshift building site.

Which, ironically, is a wobbly IKEA table I built myself!

For the past week, on said table, there is a puzzle building site. My strategy for this series of puzzles is: find and build the edge - divide all remaining pieces into identifiable parts by colour, and whatsthat. Compose all identifiable images across the board. Deal with the whatstat.

Is this how you do puzzles? Do you go by shape or colour? Is there another way? Leavemeacommentdownbelow!

Talking about Youtube, I got into listening to more podcasty content on the platform and it’s quite refreshing compared to being told what to do or having to be the passive subject of forced entertainment. In the background of one of the channels I follow there are stacks of boxes, namely board games and puzzles, which the owner refers to as if they've done them and enjoyed the process and sometimes takes them out and plays with them again.

This tickles my brain in an uncomfortable way. The mere thought of finishing a puzzle and putting it back in the box to enjoy it more in the future feels repulsive and perturbing like watching Dr pimple popper. Technically, if you’ve done it once you can do it again. However, my experience with Lego towers tells me 'once it’s built it shall not be destroyed'. How do I continue enjoying puzzles without losing my bond due to wall damage?

I get it, ultimately it isn’t a big deal to postpone the hanging of the finished puzzle, since my completed puzzles are currently on the floor anyway. All I have is the knowledge of an achievement, not even something I can see or use every day.

Just like my philosophy degrees!

Here I am, after a rollercoaster of a month where I am questioning my relationship with Lego and puzzles, and whether if I have an unhealthy attachment to completing things rather than enjoying the process. I have not yet bought a frame for this puzzle, there is still a chance by the next time you read this blog I will be a completely new person and have actually put a completed puzzle back in the box to enjoy it again.

In all honesty, nobody thinks that will happen, but this is an emotional journey and I hope you are entertained by the ride as much as I am.



Image: via