May be its a sign to move on

Is it the person or is it the message?

I usually receive no less than 100 emails every day and that might be a very conservative estimate.  Some are spam.  Some are personal. Some are work related.  Some are the result of my insane desire to keep up with the growing list of people who share things I want to read.

But recently, I noticed that reading some of the messages bring a negative physical response.  My stomach actually clenches.  Sometimes I become angry or annoyed.  Often, I find it hard to even read the whole email.

So, I used to approach this with my typical avoidance strategy…I’ll glance at it, and keep it for later.  May be I’ll feel better about it then.  Well I can tell you, that doesn’t work so well.  It has resulted in a growing inbox with thousands of read/unread messages that I might want to get to some day…or feel that may be at least I should.

This makes me wonder, is this just another sign that its time to move on?  If I can’t take the 2 minutes to read and reply or even read and delete, then may be I shouldn’t be reading it at all.  If the message isn’t important or doesn’t resonate with me, I can just delete it.  I won’t lose anything from this action.  And, if the same thing keeps happening, if I get the same negative reaction when opening a particular individual’s emails, may be its time to move on? To un-follow or more.

My previous habits have me stuck in accepting.  Accepting that they mean well.  Accepting that there might be a message or important information in there.  Accepting that I must accept them the way they are.

What I’ve always had trouble accepting is that I’m the way that I am and I don’t have to let people who make my stomach clench invade my space, my time, and even my in-box.

Hmmm – May be its time that I accept….and move on.  What do you think?