Sometimes it seems like something that starts out being positive ends up not only mundane but an annoyance. When e-mail began, it seemed almost miraculous – you could compose a note to someone and send it electronically. They’d receive it almost simultaneously, and often answer you back. With the passage of time, e-mail became more and more a vehicle for online marketing and scams, and actual personal correspondence became less and less prevalent.

As with many modern phenomena, e-mail management also becomes a chore. Culturally, we are mostly prone to accumulating things. But unmanaged accumulations are an energetic burden, weighing one down with the semi-conscious realization that there are unaccomplished tasks out there, awaiting action. “Something’s at the edge of your mind, you’re not sure what it is.”  This is particularly true for someone such as I, with strong OCD characteristics (though I would refer to it as an ORDER, not a disorder).
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve addressed my looming e-mail management issue. The longer one lets something like that go, the larger the task becomes. I’d done no real culling in more than three years. But I threw little bits of time at it several times a day, over several different days, and was able to file or dispose of thousands of e-mail messages which had just been sitting there.
This left me with good feelings on at least a couple of levels. For one, it allowed me to check that long-languishing box on my internal to-do list. But on another, it afforded me an opportunity to not view ALL of those messages as a burden. Instead, it reminded me of the richness of life. During times of joy and challenge, friends and family have been a comforting presence. Some of the messages may have been routine, but others were expressions of support which buoyed my spirit both when I received them and now, reminiscing. They caused me to recall that it is good to be grateful for both the extraordinary and the routine.