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I have decided to delete email connectivity from my iPhone.  I know that many people out there love being able to keep up with their email from their mobile phone and I thought that I did also.

Over the course of the summer it was great to be able to check my email anywhere/anytime.  But this morning I received an email about work from a parent of a student that while important (not anything bad, but very work related), is not something that I wanted or needed to worry about at 7:00 A.M. on a Saturday morning.

However, I did read it, I did worry about it, I did dwell on how I would respond to it later on (no I haven’t responded to it yet).  I bring enough stuff home as a teacher and then when you add in  reading work related emails anywhere or anytime has added to my stress level, when I should have been relaxing and enjoying the morning instead, just seemed wrong at the time and still does now.

On reflection about this (it is not the first work related email that I have fretted about after reading it on my iPhone at some weird time or place) I have come to believe that being able to see my email anywhere/anytime has become too much.  I don’t need to dwell on work related issues anymore than I have to at home.   These emails will or can wait until I either open up my laptop or when I get back to school.  The ability to worry about work 24/7 is not the direction I want my life to go in, I need some down time and time away from being a teacher.

I am not so important that I have to check my email at all hours, no one will die, be hurt or injured if I wait until I get on my laptop to check my email.  Simply having the ability to check email 24/7 anywhere/anytime has become a unnecessary distraction to my life at this time.  I have reached the point where too much information is too much.  I need time just for me and my life at home.

So after I finish this post, I am going to de-activate my email capabilities on my iPhone and enjoy all the other applications that will still be there, but not email.  Who knows maybe this will help reduce my stress/anxiety level a little bit.  I still read my email on the weekends, but I really don’t need to do it first thing in the morning or whenever my iPhone goes bzzzzzzz or beeps at me and the last thing before I go to bed.

Here is to one less thing to stress me out.

“There is no try, only do.” – Yoda