Peace of Mind Organizing

When the mail gets scary

12 April 2010

Why do some people put off dealing with their mail? I think it’s because scary stuff can be lurking in there. And the longer it sits the scarier it becomes.

I’ve been there. There have been times in my life when I didn’t want to open a credit-card bill because I was afraid to see the balance or how much I’d been charged for interest. For people with financial struggles, there can be a real fear of bad news in the mail. One thing I’ve learned, though, is that not knowing the bad news doesn’t make it better. In fact, it usually makes it worse.

Remember when you used to get fun stuff in the mail? Like invitations? The internet has changed that, at least in my life. (I’m going to blame it on email, rather than my social life.) But even if it’s less fun, the mail still comes six days a week. And it creates clutter if it’s not dealt with.

So the antidote the scary pile of mail is facing it down on a daily basis. The truth is the truth, whether or not you know about it. So if there is bad news in there, it’s best to know about it and deal with it.

And you know what? There might be good news in your mail too. I’ve helped clients go through backlogs of unopened mail and found unexpected checks for example. And gift certificates. It happens.

Tagged with: fear, habits, mail, paper piles

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