unsubscribe from anxiety and subscribe to peace of mind

Yowzers!  The weekend flew by so fast and on this Monday all I can remember is that work last week meant early mornings, late nights, lots of running around, and lots of catching up to do.  I could not wait for some rest and relaxation.  But, alas, here we go again.  No fear, though!  I am ready to brace this week even better than last week with one little thing that I did: spring-clean my emails.

Now, work is work.  But the types of emails I am referring to are personal, leisure emails.  I cannot even begin to tell you how anxious it made me feel to have constant vibrations and see my screen light up every five minutes.  Extra twenty-five percent off here, flash sales there, and free shipping and one-week free trial & memberships everywhere!  Yes, these were all things I signed up for (not spam).  But they were years worth of things I signed up for.  And a lot of them, I found, were some that I didn’t care for as much anymore.  If I had some extra time at the end of the day, I would take a deep breath in (as I pulled out my phone), flip through my emails, and one-by-one go on and delete them.  Yes, there are some ‘select’ and ‘delete selected’ features on the mobile phone, but that takes some work, too!  Truth be told, these leisure emails (think vacation deals) were just making me want to take a staycation – a vacation at home!

And that’s when I decided that I should invest some time into spring-cleaning my emails; I was going to either unsubscribe or change the frequency of what I was receiving.  Because at the end of the day, I was feeling overwhelmed.  I felt like I had to sift through a clearance rack of winter clothes to find a summer dress.  Not only that, but my husband would ask me about something he sent me a week prior that was time-sensitive and I all I could do was tell him that I didn’t see it yet.  Think about it, my husband.  A week prior.  And, quite frankly, I couldn’t tell you anything about anything.  My mind was so overwhelmed with the day-to-day that just thinking about going through all of my emails and clearing out my inbox gave me anxiety.  I was avoiding it.  And there it was, like a dark cloud over my head.  One hundred and three unread emails.

So I made a change.  I sat in the dining nook, went into each email, and changed my preferences.

Yes, it was a lot of work.  But I feel that the benefits outweigh the struggle.

As I saw it, if going through all of my emails everyday boggled me down for ten minutes, then I might as well take an hour and save myself some time and sanity for down the road.  I am building myself up for mental health and success.  I will admit, though, as I was doing it, I felt bad about unsubscribing and had total FOMO (fear of missing out).  But it occurred to me as to why I hadn’t done this before.  I was worrying about missing out on something in the future that I kept myself living in a crazy I-have-to-get-through-all-of-my-emails-and-catch-up-on-life-and-make-dinner-and-remember-that-shoe-sale-for-next-winter-that-I-really-don’t-need-but-maybe-will-need-one-day present.  I had to stop that.  I had to stop being afraid and let go.  I had to be brave.

Now, I’m not saying to get rid of all of your leisure emails – not at all!  You can definitely keep the ones you love coming.  And the ones you like?  Maybe change it to once a week or once a month.  And the ones you loathe and really don’t even know why you still receive them?  Just unsubscribe.  Beauty is, that this can also be extended out to catalogues and paper mail you receive at home.  That will be my next task! 😉 (Just think, less physical clutter!)

Point is, your time is precious and it’s amazing how little changes can change your world, how you think, and how you feel (it changed my world – I feel less anxious and free!).  You can only reach a big goal by taking small steps to get there.  And for me, if that means getting rid of something as simple as emails that I don’t read anyway, then I’m there!

Spring is here and it’s a great time to look at how we do some things and change them for the better.  Unsubscribe from anxiety and subscribe to peace of mind.

 Loren.