Each Object Is An Obligation

This title is something my husband said not long ago, and I found it somewhat profound. Each item in our home, as well as the home itself, implies an obligation to either use it, maintain it, appreciate it, rehome it, trash it, or some combination. The more stuff you have, the more the sense of obligation, even if you haven't articulated the specific to-do items to yourself. 

I recently purchased a new laptop, as my old one's battery was shot. That purchase created the obligation of setting up the new laptop and transferring programs and documents from the old one. Eventually I'll completely wipe it and get rid of it, since we don't have a use for a laptop that only works while plugged in. (I'm hoping to find someone who does.)

Today I have been working on the transfer, and it's been a trial. The main problem has been that Windows has this cloud-sharing feature called OneDrive, which can be great when you want to access a document from more than one device. It's not great when it decides that all the desktop icons on each of your devices should be copied onto the other devices, regardless of whether they will function. We have a desktop computer in addition to the two laptops which got caught up in this mess. So I've been watching video tutorials trying to figure out how to sync up the things I want without syncing everything. After two hours, it looks like I've got everything settled the way I want it. Now I'm working on copying over some software programs that aren't part of Microsoft and need to be handled individually.

As I was struggling with the computers, I occasionally felt anxiety rising up, like, "This is taking too long! I wanted to get this done today!" This anxiety is a common feeling for me, usually when I'm trying to rush through a task after having procrastinated and wasted time, so I'm mad at myself as well. But today, I had not procrastinated. (Well, only a little bit.) And so I told myself, "It's okay. It's taking some time, but you're making progress as best as you can. Just keep going." 

With the title of this post, I had expected to write about re-homing some items that we've decided don't fit our life. That is an ongoing project, because we have way too much to fit it comfortably in our home. (Not much storage space.) But I have not gotten to that yet this week. Tomorrow is about finishing the polyurethane on a door and its jamb, as well as cleaning up its hinges so we can hang it this weekend. I may have time to work on re-homing things while the polyurethane is drying, but I may also find that there are more urgent things to attend to before I go to work Friday. We shall see.