I need help! Like the help people on talk shows get! I've often watched episodes of Dr. Phil or Oprah on people with a "hoarding" obsession. I've never really thought of myself as one of those people--until I realized that different things can be "hoarded". Not just clutter in one's house. I've never had much of a problem with keeping "things" in my house. I do not typically become attached to clutter and therefore don't have a huge problem when it comes time to clean out.
About two weeks ago my email went kaput and I had rebuild my database. It took FOREVER! I had SO many emails. Emails that dated back to 2006!! Yes, 2006! Four-year-old emails! My inbox had over 6,000 messages. That didn't include messages in my sent folder, junk folder, or deleted folder! Total I had over 16,000 messages! I'd like to say that I just didn't realize that I had so many messages or that I didn't keep them intentionally, but that would not be true. I have a bad fear of needing one of those emails at a later date or needing to reference a specific incident, etc. so I keep them. But, I decided it was time to let go of some of those emails...finally. I figured that if I hadn't needed it in the last four years, I probably wouldn't need it tomorrow. So I began deleting. About an hour and a half (or more) worth of deleting (the picture above reflects the last leg of the deleting journey when I realized that it was worth documenting) :). It felt refreshing. I had an almost empty inbox with only 2 or 3 messages in it!
And the next day? I needed one of those deleted messages. Yep. I'm back to my old ways; back to hoarding email again. Somebody get Dr. Phil quick! :)
3 comments:
LOL!! I bet the same person that influenced me to hoard emails has influenced you. Does his first name start with a J and last name start with a B?? Ha ha.. I remember needing an email really bad that I deleted when I worked in your place. After that, I've been EXTREMELY hesitant to delete emails!!
I don't want to go through what you did though. Maybe I should purge some of them now? :)
Hilarious!!
I've always been bad about deleting emails too! I finally started folders so that the inbox wouldn't take to long to load and I could find things easier. Good rebuilding.
Post a Comment