As one-third of this the first month in 2016 has expired, I find myself suffering from a worsening case of the January doldrums. I usually sink deep into the relative calm that follows the holidays with a sigh of relief. But soon the lack of a thousand things on my to-do list lapses into an uncomfortable and awkward state of the blahhhhs.
All of my best intentions for accomplishing important tasks in the slower-paced days after Christmas got up and went somewhere far away. I bet it’s warm there.
Winter has finally arrived in my corner of the world in all of its brilliant beauty and force. Bone-chilling cold, ice, snow… the usual stuff for January. It’s pretty but cold. And the cold and I have a less amicable relationship each year.
One of the tasks awaiting my attention is my email inbox that is in drastic need of major purging. I’m shamefully embarrassed about the number of messages in my email inbox. There are… umm…no, no, I can’t even type the numbers representing the sum of messages languishing innocently there. Fear of deleting something important, possibly even life-altering keeps me from deleting the whole mess with a one click.
So beginning tomorrow—or the day after that, end of the week for sure—I will spend five to ten minutes, two to three times throughout the day deleting messages that I no longer need. It will be so freeing to not cringe—or shield my eyes—from the growing number of messages. And THIS year, I do solemnly swear to keep a tighter rein on my inbox. 
I made a small dent in the January blahhhhhs today.
I’m counting on a punching a bigger hole in these doldrums tomorrow.
There’s a whole lot of important, relevant things I plan to tackle this year.
But tonight I may just sit by the fire and indulge in one more evening of non-productivity.
What about you? How is 2016 shaping up? What are you hoping to accomplish?
The Scriblerians 