The Weight of My Inbox

While I was soaking up some vitamin D with my littlest one, the infamous Dr. Mercola came to mind. Are you familiar with him? He's the one who informed me I should spend at least some of my time outside without sunglasses to get the full effect of the rays' benefits.

I remember reading his daily e-mails. What a weight they were! Yes, they were full of sometimes helpful information, but never without a side of fear. Every day brought some new finding, some new study that meant a complete life overhaul. Don't eat this. Don't touch that. (But if you did eat this or touch that, thankfully he had a product to make everything better.)

Then there were the retailer e-mails. Each day a new bargain came my way or a new book release, but time was running out, and surely I didn't want to be the fool only person to miss out on this one time deal.

Crafty inspiration came my way, too. 101 exciting things to do with a toilet paper rolls. 50 fun projects to do with your toddler that will guarantee super-duper brain development. 

And let me not forget the education loops. There were updates and questions and recommendations. After all, why use a curriculum just as it is? I might miss something important by faithfully sticking to the plan while everyone is sharing how they're tweaking those plans to make them so much better.

But one day, all of those e-mails just disappeared. There weren't 100 messages waiting for me daily. There were only 3. Time had run out on the forwarding of messages from my old e-mail to my new, and I had forgotten to notify all my e-mail buddies.

The result? Freedom!

I hadn't fully understood how draining those message were. They were custom-ordered expectations and burdens that I had to either delete or do or just let sit in the back of my mind while I decided if I should delete or do. And those expectations would eat away at me without pause. "Remember reading that you should do this..." "You still haven't added that to your day." "Don't forget that book is on special for just a bit longer." "Weren't you going to buy something at the craft store so you could do one of those projects?"

It's easy to complain about information overload, but in most cases, we're the ones welcoming the load...one website or blog feed or yahoo group at a time. We fool ourselves into thinking we're spending time wisely by considering and being aware of all of our options, but often we're simply addicted to the need to know and bound by the fear of not knowing.

We think endless options and information will make us wiser Mamas, but the truth is they easily distract us from the duties at hand. They make us restless and doubtful, as we wonder if  there's one more thing we should be doing and some better way of doing it. We haven't even planned dinner for that evening, but we know the latest book releases, the current health trends, and the best way to re-use dryer lint. Is that truly looking well to the ways of our households?

If I was still getting all of those crafty e-mails, I might be doing an amazing art project with my 23 month old. But most likely I'd be distracted by a weighty inbox, making lists of things I want to do one day. And all the while I'd be missing out on those moments in the sun sharing space with some of the cutest toddler legs ever.

With love,

Trisha

***I know someone will take this as a blanket rant against information in your inbox. It's not. Each Mama needs to discern what's getting her attention and ask herself if a weighty inbox is profitable to her family life and to her soul. :)