🧩 Let's Celebrate National Puzzle Day!

January 29 isn't just another winter day: it's National Puzzle Day. An invitation to settle down comfortably under soft lighting with a hot cup of tea and a cozy playlist. Doing a puzzle on a weekday, in the middle of the day, when you probably should be doing something else? Yes. Absolutely yes. On Thursday, January 29, we assemble, we gather, we come together. Everything else can wait.

🤔What is National Puzzle Day?

So it's true, nowadays there are days for everything. In France, January 7, for example, is Spindle Day (a discreet object, but clearly very well defended). And April 9 is World Unicorn Day (yes, really). So frankly, puzzles deserve their own day too.

National Puzzle Day originated in the United States in the 1990s, on the initiative of puzzle designer Jodi Jill. Although this day is not yet recognized in France as an "international holiday," at Jour Férié, we take it very seriously. Because a puzzle is never just a puzzle.

👉 See also: Puzzles, a gift that slows down time

🔍Why Celebrate Jigsaw Puzzles?

In a world that is constantly accelerating, jigsaw puzzles offer resistance. They give us real time, slow time, where we don't rush, where we don't optimize anything. Because doing a jigsaw puzzle means accepting that we can't go fast. That we can't understand everything right away. That we can get lost in order to find ourselves again.

And if you ever need another excuse to break out the box, here are at least 10 good reasons to give in to temptation:

• Giving deep meaning to the word "progress": Two pieces that fit together—it's tiny... yet immense (only 998 left, but we're not thinking about that).
  
  
• Train your eye: Discover that beige is never just beige. It can be sand, cream, linen, eggshell, or twine. And sometimes, all of these at once.
  
  
• Practice active meditation: Being able to watch a piece for 4 minutes without thinking about anything else.
  
  
• Discovering a talent for obsessive sorting: By color. By shape. By mood, too.
  
  
• Test your peripheral vision: Spot a piece at the other end of the table without moving from your chair. An underestimated feat.
  
  
• Learning humility: This piece is perfect. We place it confidently. It absolutely refuses to fit. Lesson learned.
  
  
• Conducting a proper investigation: "This piece is green... but not the right green. Too much like a meadow. Or not enough like a forest after the rain."
  
  
• Exercising your memory: "Had I already tried this piece there, or not? Ah. Well, yes."
  
  
• Redefining the term "almost finished": When "just the sky" remains. That is, approximately 400 blue pieces.
  
  
• Prove to yourself that you can finish what you start: No pressure. No timer. No judgment.

Doing a puzzle, ultimately, is many things at once! And above all, it's an emotional roller coaster: intense joy → doubt → frustration → victory → pride.

🎉 How to Celebrate National Puzzle Day?

To celebrate National Puzzle Day, there's no need for long speeches or confetti (although you could if you wanted to). You can choose to be alone or with others, but never in a hurry. Solo, it's like having a one-on-one with a mini puzzle on the corner of the table: you get into the flow and feel extremely productive... without answering a single email. A luxury.

With others, it's a whole new adventure. Cooperative puzzles bring people together naturally, create comfortable silences, and sometimes spark big existential debates ("But yes, that piece there!" — "No. Look at the cloud. THE CLOUD! Are you wearing your glasses?" — "It goes there." — "No."). It also allows you to test your ability to collaborate (And presto, I discreetly hide a piece in my pocket, unseen and unnoticed, because I'm the one who will place the last piece).

And then THE moment arrives. The last piece, which we place with almost religious reverence. We look at each other, saying nothing. We stand there, proud as Artaban. Because at that precise moment, everything finally seems to be in its right place.

So, make a note of January 29, National Puzzle Day, to enjoy a little digital detox, finally slow down, or take a break. And if the world has to wait a little, it's no big deal. You can tell them, "I can't today, I've got a puzzle to do."🧡🧩

👉 See also: How to frame a puzzle?