One thousand pieces of magic

How a 1000-piece puzzle sparked a trip down memory lane (and a mini ROAR for MOAR Hero’s Journey)

Some of my favourite childhood memories are of winter school holidays. A fire burning. Wimbledon on the telly. A half-built puzzle on the dining table. A few pieces at a time. Until your eyes see double and every piece starts to look the same. Then you take a break. And a little while later, someone drifts back to the table.

This past weekend, we did it all again.

Hermanus used to be our holiday home. Now my parents live there permanently, and we visited for a long weekend with the boys. The Springboks against Wales on Saturday. The Wimbledon final on Sunday. A fire burning. And on the table, a stunning thousand-piece puzzle my mom had started.

It’s called Magic India. The irony was not lost on me. For months, the working title of my book MOAR! was ‘Making Work Magic Inside and Out’. I believe that every workplace has the potential to make real magic happen every day, in every conversation, every relationship, every decision you make, every action you take. You really cannot make this stuff up.

Somewhere between the rugby, the tennis and a thousand pieces of Magic India, I was reminded of where every meaningful journey begins: with the picture on the box.

In MOAR! I call this the ROAR for MOAR Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s Journey is the ancient pattern behind every epic transformation story, and MOAR! uniquely applies it to work wellbeing. The journey unfolds in five stages: Map Your Adventure, Open Your Life Force, Act with Heart, Rise Through the Fire, and ROAR for MOAR. Five stages that spell MOAR. Little did I know I was about to travel through all five while building a puzzle.

Act 1: The Call | Start with the picture

The box had the picture on it, but this puzzle also had a paper print of the full picture, exactly the same size as the puzzle itself. A life-size map of what we were building. We never built blind. Every time we got stuck, we looked at the picture. A ballet dancer. A woman in a yoga pose. A person riding on the back of a lion. A peacock, an elephant, a horse, a cow. People and animals living together in one vibrant, magical world.

We would never attempt a thousand-piece puzzle without the picture. So why do we try to build our lives and careers that way?

Stage 1 of the journey is called Map Your Adventure. First, you hold up the mirror and get honest. Then you ask yourself: who do I want to be, what do I want, and why? Notice the order. Who you want to be comes first. The picture starts on the inside. That is your picture on the box: the identity you are building towards. Stage 2, Open Your Life Force, is where you own that picture as if it were already true, then build the energy and the plan to match. Ours was easy to own. It was lying on the table, life size, as real as the pieces.

Act 2: The Quest | When every piece looks the same

At first I didn’t want to build this puzzle. My mom started it, and for the first day I held back. I had other stuff to do. I knew once I sat down at that table, I would get sucked in.

I was right.

Choosing the table over my to-do list was a small decision. It was also, in the language of the book, a moment that matters. Acting with heart means showing up daily in those moments, and sometimes that looks exactly this ordinary. The little things are everything. 

Once I joined my mom, the puzzle pulled me in completely. My mind rested, fully absorbed in something that had nothing to do with work. Energy is your greatest currency, and that table topped mine up in a way no lie-in ever could.

Then came the messy middle. Endless shades of purple and pink. Pieces that looked identical. Struggling for hours to find the right ones. 

The messy middle is where most people give up. On puzzles, and on their own transformation. In the Hero’s Journey, I call this rising through the fire. Only in real life, the fire burns hotter than a puzzle. I have walked through my fair share. But the principle holds: you rise by returning. What kept us going? Each other. Some pieces my mom spotted in seconds after I had stared at them for an hour. This is the whole point. The journey goes further, and means more, with someone beside you.

One more lesson from the table: you cannot force a piece that doesn’t fit. No matter how convinced you are, a wrong piece stays wrong. You put it down, and you try another. How often do we keep pressing on something in our lives that was never going to fit?

Act 3: The Return | Full circle

Yesterday, we placed the final piece. And I felt two things at once.

Deep satisfaction at seeing the whole picture complete. And, honestly? Gutted that it was over. I wanted it to continue.

If finishing were the point, I would have felt pure relief. The joy lived in the building itself. The ritual. The returning. The hours at the table with my mom.

That is the truth at the heart of the ROAR for MOAR Hero’s Journey. It is a practice you return to, over and over, a few pieces at a time. The map matters. The picture matters. But the magic happens while you build. The final stage of the journey is to own your story and share it. Which is exactly what I’m doing right now.

The girl who built puzzles by the fire during winter school holidays in Hermanus grew up and moved to England for almost two decades. Then she came home. And this weekend she sat in Hermanus, fire burning, sport on the telly and building a puzzle with her mom. The only difference? The addition of a glass of wine ;)

Two examples of the Hero’s Journey at very different speeds. The weekend version: one table, one fire, a thousand puzzle pieces, the five ROAR for MOAR stages, done by Monday. Then there is the lifetime version: two countries, two burnouts, two books, and over two decades of building the bigger picture a few puzzle pieces at a time.

If you had shown me that picture on a box lid twenty years ago, I’m not sure I would have believed it was mine to build. 

So let me ask you: what is the picture on your box?

If you are ready to map your own adventure, Stage 1 of the ROAR for MOAR Hero’s Journey in MOAR! How to Play to Win Without Burning Out shows you how. Get your copy of MOAR! today. Further details below.

With MOAR love & magic,

Marilise

🔸 About ROAR! and MOAR!

In ROAR! How to Tame the Bully Inside and Out (December 2019), I tackle the silent damage bullying causes, in the workplace, online, and in everyday life. The book helps readers recognise toxic behaviour, understand the dynamics between bully, victim and culture, and respond with confidence and clarity rather than fear or avoidance. I wrote it after discovering, the hard way, just how common and costly workplace bullying really is.

Get your copy of ROAR! Here: Amazon.com: ROAR!: How to tame the bully inside and out: 9781781334270

In MOAR! How to Play to Win Without Burning Out (February 2026), I turn to burnout, exhaustion and the quiet emptiness so many high achievers feel despite their success. Rather than treating symptoms, MOAR! introduces practical frameworks, including the Wellbeing Trio, the four-step ROAR process and the ROAR for MOAR Hero's Journey, to help readers lead with authenticity, build thriving cultures and reclaim their energy and voice.

Get your copy of MOAR! here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1049244788

For South African readers

ROAR! and MOAR! are available in bookstores nationwide, most notably Exclusive Books.

If you would like a signed copy sent directly from me, email marilise@marilise-de-villiers.com (R350 per book, plus R50 postage).