They say the first step to fixing a problem is acknowledging you have one. Others say give a problem a name, then you can find a solution to it.
Others say we are giving too many problems names. Another group of people claims you do not know you have a problem until someone gives it a name.

In my case, I don’t think I have a problem. But then everyone aware of the situation claims it is a problem. The only part up for discussion is how much of a problem it is.
There is one problem with this problem though, no one has either thought it necessary or been able to come up with a nomenclature for this problem.

I use Google Chrome as my default browser. I tried over ten other browsers before settling on Google Chrome, both for my PC and phone.
All these years later, I have tried a couple of other browsers, but they are either not as intuitive and enjoyable, or I didn’t give them enough chance to grow on me.

There have been claims that I’m a hoarder. From books to newspapers, magazines, and literal scraps of paper. I believe they should be kept in order, and by instinct, I want them safe. At least, until I am done reading, digesting, and using the information on them.
That is also my attitude to browser tabs.

If I find something I consider insightful or informative, I try to read it immediately.
On the off chance that I do not have enough time at that moment, or it seems too long, or I am not in the mood to read, I open it in a tab and come back to read it at a later time.

The origin of this “problem” is that I have come across too many interesting articles over the years, I have kept them open in many tabs, but I have not had the time to get back to reading them.
Long story short, at a point, I had comfortably over three hundred tabs open on my Google Chrome.
If I am not being conservative in my estimation, the tabs I had open would be over five hundred, but just a little less than a thousand.

Luckily for me, I use a top-end system. My job requires one. But at a point, I had to close my browser in order to have enough computing power to work.
At a point, I honestly believed I would never get to see the last tab on that list anymore. Yes, it was that bad.

And yes, a lot of people agreed with me.
Some people advised me to close that instance of my browser and start afresh. My only problem with that solution is that my mind would always wonder about the amount of information I just lost.
I always want to know. Knowing that there is something I almost knew, but don’t know is a knowledge that would haunt me for too long.
You can be sure I never took their advice.

When my system went off due to a power outage, I didn’t think anything of it.
It wasn’t until I opened my browser which was on at the time the power went off, and I saw an empty tab, that was when I knew how much these all mattered to me.

I began to press ctrl + shift + T. That is the shortcut to open a recently closed tab.
In this case, I needed a whole window, with over 500 tabs in it, but I had no idea how else to recover it.
You should have witnessed my joy when after about three empty tabs, my complete tabs came up as one.

I can remember the first time my system crashed. Worse still, it happened while I had my browser open.
My biggest worry while they tried to revive my system was if my browser would still be fine. Once again, miraculously, I recovered my browser.

I knew I needed to do something about it. There is just one small (or massive, depending on your perspective) problem. How do I find the time to go through over five hundred tabs?

Honestly, if I had an intern, I would have asked them to go through the tabs and summarize them for me. Unfortunately, I didn’t
If I could afford it, I would have hired a temp to do it for me. Again, I can’t afford to.

When after a forced break from writing, I discovered I was unable to get back to writing as normal, I decided to extend my break.
It was on the second day of my circumstantially self-imposed break, that I decided to tackle this multi-tabbed menace.

I didn’t know how many of these tabs I would eventually be able to go through, but I knew I needed to clear some out.
As with anything I set my mind to do, I kept at it until on Saturday.

You should have been there on Saturday when I noticed that for each tab I closed, a new one wasn’t popping up at the back.
The end was in sight.

From there until the end, I would spend about two more hours, but you can be sure that I didn’t stand up from my seat until I was done.
When I was done, I actually screamed for joy.

I mostly use my office alone, so my scream wasn’t disturbing anyone.
Whoever was walking outside at that time would have been wondering what was going on inside at that time. But that’s not my business though.

Browser tabs that have built up for over six years now, I finally went through them, and you expect me not to be relieved?
I should be jumping for joy. Maybe next time though.
Next time on something else, not browser tabs. You can be certain I won’t let them pile up like this ever again.

Wilson Joshua is a Video Editor, Content Creator, and Creative Writer.
You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. @IJOSWIL