I keep important emails in my inbox until I've dealt with them, then I file them away. I find it's a useful way to prioritise actions and avoid clutter. But sometimes those emails just sit there and sit there, even though I know they need a reply, because I can't bring myself to write one. Maybe if I keep quiet, fail to respond, then the issue will go away. An email ignored is an email solved. I'm bad like that.
There's an email in my inbox from last Wednesday. I ought to reply to it, there's some money due to me if I do. But the hoop I have to jump through to get the money is slightly awkward, and I'm not quite sure how best to leap it. I could probably think up a suitable compromise if I asked somebody else to help me out, but I'm not sure who, and it'd all get unnecessarily complicated. So the easiest thing to do is ignore it. The email festers.
There's an email in my inbox from last week. I ought to reply to it, it's from a good friend of the family who's done a lot for me in her time. It's an invite to a big party, quite a few months in the future, somewhere awkward (but gettable to). I should go, show my face, even though I'd probably only enjoy it for the first couple of hours. I'd prefer to make my mind up later, much later, but there's an urgent RSVP and I don't want to commit myself this early. So the easiest thing to do is ignore it. The email festers.
There's an email in my inbox from last September. It's from a record company executive, a big cheese, offering me a tiny non-musical freebie in response to a post on this blog. I should have said yes, or maybe I should have said no, but whatever the case I should have said something. Instead the easiest thing to do was ignore it. The email festers.
There's an email in my inbox from last December. It's from a retired former colleague, and it's very very long. It's a follow-up to a much shorter festive email he sent the day before, which I "made the mistake of" replying to, so he wrote back bigger and broader and deeper. He said some really lovely things, which I don't know quite how to respond to, and he waffled on about what he'd been up to, which I really ought to have been more interested in. So the easiest thing to do is ignore it, then maybe refer to things in a brief note next Christmas. Meanwhile the email festers.
There's an email in my inbox from 2005. It's from a childhood friend, wondering if I'd like to attend her 40th birthday party, in a hotel somewhere up north. RSVP. I didn't really want to go, not for an entire weekend of "family-friendly activities", although I didn't want to tell her that, so I didn't respond. Shortly before the party I got another email, entitled 'TEST'. I didn't reply to that either, just to maintain the pretence. Both emails fester.
There's an email in my inbox from last January. I should have replied to it, because it's regarding an opportunity I'd kick myself for missing. But there's an awkward request within, one that compromises long-held beliefs, and I'm not quite sure if I'm willing to do that. So the easiest thing to do was ignore it in the vain hope that the problem would go away. It didn't. Today there's a fresh email in my inbox from the same sender asking the same question, a little more urgent this time, and I need to get off the fence. Some emails can't be ignored forever. Damn.
I'm good with short simple emails, I usually reply quite quickly. But make it long, or make it complicated, and I'll probably procrastinate so long that you'll never receive a reply. My apologies if you sent me an email last Thursday, or on 31st March, or four Wednesdays ago, or one hour after we won the Olympics. I did mean to send a reply, honest, but so far I've not been able to face writing one. I'm bad like that. My inbox festers.
There's an email in my inbox from last Wednesday. I ought to reply to it, there's some money due to me if I do. But the hoop I have to jump through to get the money is slightly awkward, and I'm not quite sure how best to leap it. I could probably think up a suitable compromise if I asked somebody else to help me out, but I'm not sure who, and it'd all get unnecessarily complicated. So the easiest thing to do is ignore it. The email festers.
