Just Another Email in Your Inbox
Currently processing having too many emails in my inbox, the balance between the digital world and my offline life, and the impact of this newsletter
I am writing to you from my favorite neighborhood coffee shop with an iced cortado and the 65 degree breeze coming in through the open door. The weather is too nice to sit at home and hide behind my laptop all day – some days you have a to-do list to tend to and others, like today, you can float in and out of productivity without guilt. I’m re-watching Sex & The City and am channeling my inner Carrie–romanticizing my life by writing every moment down, staring off into the distance with a bevy in hand, and frolicking through this city that I call home.
I have 51 unread newsletters waiting to be opened in my email inbox and it makes me wonder, will this newsletter become just another email in your inbox? I’m not mad that more and more people are feeling empowered to share their words, their art, and their curated recommendations through platforms that make it easy to write and send a newsletter, like Substack. But I do wonder about information overload and the fatigue that comes from constantly consuming ideas and perspectives that are not your own.
I try to only subscribe to newsletters I really love, writers I look up to, or pieces that spark the curiosity of my inner artist. But when I spend more of my day reading (consuming) than I do writing (creating), the line in my mind between what I feel inspired to share and what I think I should be inspired to share becomes blurry.
I open up an email with 10+ links of things I should buy or trips that I should take and my mind becomes riddled with new directions my life could take, envy for the things I don’t have, and hundreds ideas for ways that my life could be better, my writing could improve, or my story could be more inspiring.
I hardly have time to read the books on my shelf, let alone the newsletters in my inbox, and I wonder, how do I make the space and time for my own ideas and inspiration to find me rather than constantly being bombarded by an online and offline reality that is an endless supply of new, more, better?
Not only that, but I wonder about the ways I am contributing to this predicament.
With every newsletter send or photo I post online, I am inviting you to stay engaged with your devices – keeping your inbox open ready for another hit of dopamine, your phone positioned directly in front of your face, waiting for an temporary feeling of connection. I offer you ideas of places to add to your google maps list, books to add to your cart, beautiful scenery and places that for whatever reason, are better than whatever moment you are living right now.
I’m not saying to not read my emails (unless that feels like a supportive move for you, I will not take it personally). But I am saying: in this day and age of being hyper online and over-available to the digital world, prioritize cultivating your IRL life more than you do your online life. If you notice that your time is filled with nothing but replying to emails and reading newsletters, I encourage you to fill the time you would spend online with meaningful interactions in the real world instead of distracting yourself with the abyss of the digital world.
Print out the newsletters that land in your inbox and read them at a coffee shop. Ask an online friend who lives in your city to hang IRL, or if they live across the globe, schedule a Facetime call. Delete the apps and allow yourself to scroll only when you’re on your laptop (not as fun when it’s not a tiny device burning holes into your retinas). Smile at strangers, talk to the person sitting next to you on the subway. Instead of asking AI to answer the biggest questions that swirl through your mind, ask the elders in your life, ask yourself and listen to the answer that arises, ask your question to the ether and wait for the universe to answer. Engage with the world around you and the life you are living – not just the curation of what you think the perfect life should be.
Get lost in your life, rather than sucked into the artificial bubble of online life that falsely promises belonging, connection, and all of the answers you’ve ever had questions to. Connect back to yourself. Feel your feet firmly planted in the ground and remember that this this physical world is the real life. The moment that is in front of you is enough. You are enough. Your real life is not a perfectly curated carousel of 20 pictures but a million+ beautiful, messy, unpredictable passing moments that make up the mosaic of your life.
Close your eyes, take a breath, put your phone (or laptop) away. Get outside. Call a friend. Connect with yourself and the real world around you. The unread emails in your inbox will still be there waiting for you when you return.
How do you balance being online versus offline in your life?
What ways can you bridge the gap between your online and offline worlds? How can you take the experience of being online and translate that into offline experiences?
How do you trust in the moments of transition? What grounds you when you are moving from one season to the next? How do you enjoy the process, without rushing to the next destination?
Newsletters from my friends and writers I admire that play off of and add additional perspectives and thoughts to the themes I’m currently processing.
I mute just about everyone in Instagram and I’m not sure it makes me a better friend but it does force me to be more intentional with who and how I’m catching up with my friends. I loved this
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I have not gotten on the ChatGBT train, mostly because I fear it will disconnect me from my intuition but also because I think it’s making people lazy. I think the more we depend on technology to create, the more out of touch we become from our inner wisdom that we came into this life to share. Loved this read,
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I love everything
writes but I especially love this list and her latest on where to find inspiration outside of the Internet. I am a Pinterest girly through and through and even still, the best inspiration always comes when I log off and tune into the tangible world.
I don’t have any of this figured out. In fact, it’s something that my brain has continued to process and grapple with for years. I’m curious to hear from you–how do you engage with the digital world without it taking too much from your real life? How do you create the space to hear your own voice in a world that is riddled with noise? I believe that there’s room for all of us to have a seat at the table–to have a newsletter or become a content creator or voice on the internet, but when do we draw the line? How do you protect yourself from the noise of the outside world? Is there a way live an online life without losing your connection to self and to your offline life?
Such a relatable article Nikki. I too have felt the growing feeling of information overwhelm creeping up on me over the last few years. The advice of taking a deep breath, closing your device, going outside and connecting with yourself and the real world is top notch advice. Thanks for the article.
Loved this reflection, Nikki. And thanks for including my essay!