“If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can’t it get us out?”~Will Rogers, American actor
This week I have been doing something bold and freeing: unsubscribing from emails.
I apologize if yours was one of them. It’s nothing personal, but I wasn’t reading your material anyway. That has nothing to do with you; I mean, I liked your writing enough to follow your blog or website. I haven’t made the time to read ANYthing these past few months, so I’m not missing anything I would have already missed.
It’s strange to wake up in the morning and not see a splattering of emails. Deleting the mail I don’t have to feral with is one of the first things I do in my day. Clear out the clutter of Flash Sales and Updates From Me and Your Reward is Loaded on Your Card. It took me about 2 days until I relaxed and said, This is cool.
Part of this decluttering is my move from Michigan to New Jersey. I don’t need updates from local stores, news from the area library, specials for residents of the Detroit area and events happening in ye olde coffee shoppe. I wasn’t reading them anyway. Now I don’t have the stress of deleting them. Let’s face it, I felt bad for ignoring these groups. Now I don’t know I’m ignoring them because I’m not on their subscription lists.
I’m keeping my subscriptions to Bath & Body Works and Michael’s because I will need to visit these places on the other side. I’m not transporting liquids and I donated bags and boxes of my Scrapbooking supplies. I don’t need to know about hotel rewards from places I’m not staying at or online classes I’m not taking. I’m subscribing to New Jersey Penn State alumni chapters and reading the updates from my old Bellydance teacher’s new studio hours.
This makes me realize I’m not giving myself proper Me Time to enjoy and peruse blogs and books. It’s refreshing to feel clean. I wonder, has my lack of writing and blogging has affected my loyal readership? I haven’t commented on friends’ blog posts, and that’s not very social of me.
But my gosh, the amount of crap entering my life was unbelievable. What about you? Have you stopped to examine your life? Clutter in my house, clutter in my Inbox, clutter in my mind.
Let go.
It’s that simple, and it’s that hard.
There’s more that I can unsubscribe from, but right now, this is enough. Maybe I’ll be in a better frame of mind to write. Maybe I’ll just get a few moments to breathe deeper. That’s worth my apology to you. And I can always re-subscribe.
