I am feeling an email overload right now. It feels like it has been months since I have been able to look at my inbox without cringing because I know I have emails from FEBRUARY that I still haven't tended to. Oh - I've read them. But as soon as I read them, I clicked MARK AS UNREAD because I didn't have time at that moment to tend to what the email was requesting.
I have an email from March sitting in my inbox from a high-school friend I haven't talked to in ... 5 years ... and it's in it's fourth "mark as unread" status.
I wish I could just delete my entire inbox an start fresh. I know it would pile up in only a matter of a day or so ... but wow. The feeling of a fresh inbox with no ghostly reminders of tasks not yet completed.
Hey, indulge yourself... if you aren't attending to them anyway, why not delete them all? You are right that a full inbox can destroy one's peace of mind!
There are a variety of techniques that revolve around "opening each message only once". At a minimum, create a second folder called "To do later" and stick the message there if you hope to get to it one day. Never mark it unread!...