Nesting

You can tell I’m near the end of my cycling season. I’m getting outside less often, keeping my rides close to home, sleeping more, and getting a little grumpy. But there are other signs. Because I’m spending so little time on the bike, I’m giving more time to small projects around the house.

It’s a nesting instinct, albeit one that has nothing to do with reproduction! I’m already experiencing a bit of offseason ennui and there are darker days ahead, both literally and figuratively. So, I’m identifying holes in my music collection and filling them—a process that consists of downloading, verifying (listening to the tracks to ensure their completeness and quality), and cataloging. It’s a big collection, so I have to keep it organized. And I’m watching a lot of movies right now, mostly old horror flicks in acknowledgment of the Halloween season.

Staying entertained is a good thing, but staying productive is even more important. I just finished an audit of my usernames and passwords for dozens of websites. In many cases I established those credentials to make online purchases and then never returned to those sites. Those accounts—and in some cases the websites themselves—don’t exist anymore, so I don’t need to retain a record of them. I also have been purging paper records that have outlived their usefulness, things like sales receipts for items I no longer own and unused checks from an old bank account. It’s all junk. It’s just taking up space.

I won’t be satisfied with only a thorough cleaning of my horizontal file; there are other corners of the house that need a good sweeping. Old clothes, once-read books, long-neglected toys and games … time to find new owners. It’s so easy to dismiss the clutter when I’m on the bike every day, but things are otherwise when I’m home.