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Broken Computer: The Bright Sides

It Really IS How You Look At It

Broken Computer: The Bright Sides

There were so many things I wanted to write about today. 

I wanted to talk about words, and specific words: hormesis, discrimination, that I expect to talk about over and over. 

And about colors, and about sleep, and literary citizenship, and doing things for other people.

I spilled some water on my computer this morning. Everything seemed fine until two hours later, when the screen went dark.

But guess what? It was a good  thing!

My computer breaking was a good thing because:

  • I got to reach out to my computer mentor/teacher, and through him to get a word-of-mouth referral to a really good local computer-whisperer (who actually came to my house and took my puter away), and thus got to feel good about local community.
  • I was reminded to always back up my work, and of how grateful I am for the Cloud. Mercifully, only this morning's work was not  backed up, and with a bright flashlight I was able to see enough of the screen to get those files onto my external hard drive. Another occasion for gratitude.
  • Gratefully too, I still have my little tiny netbook, slow, old, and puny though it is. So I'll be slowed down with work for a few days, but I can still do my work, communicate, be entertained... 
  • ...and  I get to have an immersion in how my beautiful responsive blog looks on a smaller screen! 
  • And, when I can't stand this tiny screen,  I'll go to the library and use the computers there, which will be a good change of scene and will teach me how my blog looks on a full-sized screen too.
  • I get to practice patience.
  • The tiny screen and puny operating system will train me to be a better housekeeper, not leaving dozens of tabs, programs, windows open, clearing my inbox more often, perhaps even fronting 30 minutes to create some filters on my emails for ease of access and organization, gift that will continue to give even when I get my work laptop back.
  • Perhaps best of all, I get to acknowledge and give thanks for all the meditation practice, sane sleeping practices, breathing exercises, gratitude journaling, and other cultivations that enabled me to get through this emergency without dissolving into my "crazybipolarperson" avatar as I might have been expected to -- just a few curse words slipped out right at the beginning, but after that I was genuinely in a place of gratitude for community, solutions, and the different opportunities offered by this different challenge.
  • (Even if I was a stupid klutz to spill on my work machine, that's not how I've been thinking of it, and I had a much better day as a result.)

About the Author

Ela Harrison

Ela is a wordsmith and herb lover who has lived in many places and currently resides in Tucson, AZ.

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