Life Is Like A Crossword Puzzle...

Doing crossword puzzles can teach a person a lot about living and solving problems. You start out with nothing but a long list of clues, and a grid in which you have to work in order to solve the problem. That's it.

If you just look at the puzzle, and do nothing, you won't get anywhere. The first thing you have to decide is where to start. Sometimes you may start with "one vertical" or "one horizontal". At other times, you have no idea what those two clues mean and you start somewhere else.

If you waited until you had all the answers when doing a crossword, you would never get started. You seldom have any idea of what the solution to any puzzle is, until you work at each clue, one at a time.

You soon find out that crossword puzzle clues can be tricky, since many words in the English language can mean many things, depending on how the word is used. You may spend a long time trying to figure out why, what you see as being the logical answer to the clue, doesn't work at all. Then finally, you discover that the clue has a meaning entirely different to what you thought it had.

Doing a crossword also teaches you to fill in gaps with your mind. Sometimes just one letter in an eight letter word gives you the clue that you need. Sometimes it doesn't. And if you are cautious, you might hold back making a decision until you have another letter or so, to confirm your suspicions.

Crossword puzzles also involve two important aspects of living.

The first is that of taking chances. Unless you risk filling in one part of the puzzle, you'll never get to the next part of it.

The second is that of realizing you've made a mistake and correcting it. It is frustrating to realize that what you've written down is wrong, and that you have to erase it, or just write harder over it, depending on whether you are using a pencil or a pen.

Nobody likes having to admit they were wrong, even when doing a crossword puzzle. But the more you realize your errors, correct what needs to be corrected, and get along with life, the more you will get done, and get done successfully in life.




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