Viki Taylor comments on the need to get rid of the junk to find the best.

© creativecommonsstockphotos | Dreamstime Stock Photos
© creativecommonsstockphotos | Dreamstime Stock Photos

A few days ago I had to clear out my whole email inbox. I had over six thousand unread emails. Six thousand!!

Six thousand unread emails is not great by anyone's standards, but for me, someone who loves organisation and adores her pretty mint green planner, six thousand unread emails is shocking.

When somebody asked me, "Did you get my email?" I'd have to search through the masses to find the one I'm looking for. It made normal emails containing normal information a chore to look at, because I had to filter through all the junk and irrelevant mail first.

And it got me thinking. Why do I let the junk fill my inbox?

Why do I spend so long viewing all the rubbish first, before I find the one I'm actually looking for?

I realised that most of the emails came from companies I had subscribed to. Fashion brand after fashion brand, governmental parties and online petitions; none of which I am opposed to, but some that I don't need constantly filling my inbox.

Something needed to be done. The little red '6000+' on my iPhone was driving me crazy. The notification of 'storage is full' kept appearing, preventing me from receiving the input I should have been receiving. I could not see the videos I had been sent by friends because my subscriptions took up the storage. I was missing out on everything going on around me, for the fear of missing out from the best online deal. You see how that makes no sense?

Cognitive psychology attempts to explain human behaviour by comparing us to computers. Despite believing there is a lot more to humans than computer systems, I can't help thinking that sometimes I am like my email inbox.

I can allow myself to become subscribed to things that I don't need to be subscribed to. I can allow myself to become absorbed by these things, ruled by these things and consumed to capacity by these things. I can allow my storage to become full with things that belong in the junk box.

So I challenge you, what are you subscribed to that needs to be moved to junk? What subscriptions need to be cancelled for good? What subscriptions are annoyingly filling your mind to the point where little else good can get in?

It took me approximately two hours to go through and delete them all. That's two hours that could have been better spent. But by allowing the junk to be deleted and subscriptions to be cancelled, my storage is free, and now I can make sure I don't miss out on what God has for me. CR

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.