For some, email is simply another communication tool. However, for people with anxiety or neurodiverse individuals, it can bring added stress, avoidance, and guilt. If you’ve ever sat frozen at your computer, staring at your inbox, you’re not alone! Whether it’s fear of confrontation, pressure to respond perfectly or the growing mountain of unread messages weighing on your shoulders, email anxiety is a valid, and common feeling. In today’s blog, we want to explore why your inbox can cause such strong feelings and offer some practical strategies to help manage the overwhelm.
Why Does Email Cause Anxiety?
There are several reasons why opening your email inbox can be triggering:
Fear of the unknown
Nothing sparks fear more than a vague subject line, such as “Quick Question”, or “Give me a Call.” These types of emails can instantly increase your heart rate. You might start thinking about the urgency of your reply, whether you might have forgotten something, or wondering if the person is upset at something you did or didn’t do.
Pressure to respond a certain way
As professionals, we often overthink our responses. From tone to punctuation, composing an appropriate reply can often become a paralyzing task.
Needing to reply immediately
Being always connected often leads us to believe we need to answer an email immediately. There may be guilt or anxiety about not only replying, but also how quickly we are expected to send our response.
“The quick pace of social media and texting also sets up unrealistic expectations for email response times.” –Cleveland Clinic
5 Practical Strategies to Help
Set boundaries
By setting expectations, for yourself and for others, you can help reduce the pressure to always be on or available. Communicate your hours to your clients and coworkers so that everyone is on the same page. Let them know when they can expect a reply, such as within 24-48 hours. This allows a buffer for you and helps relieve some of the stress you may have in responding.
When your workday ends, consider turning off your email notifications and don’t check again until the morning.
Use a timer
Create a dedicated time each day to check your inbox. Use a timer, around 10-15 minutes, to help prevent yourself from spending too much time on your emails, which can lead to overthinking and overanalyzing.
Sort your emails
When you check your inbox, categorize each one into a specific category based on the urgency of reply. This way, you don’t have to respond immediately to all of them. Sorting your emails will also make it easier to visualize the ones that need immediate attention and those that can be dealt with later.
Be gentle with yourself
It’s important to remember that you are human. Mistakes will happen, and not every email requires perfection. In most cases, people don’t have the time or energy to spell check or analyze your email for proper comma use! So, try your best not to overthink every single email you send.
Whether you have 13 unread emails, or 513, it’s important to remember that your feelings are valid, and that you aren’t lazy or unprofessional. Finding practical solutions that work for you is key. With some structure, boundaries, and realistic expectations, your inbox can become more manageable along with your stress and anxiety.
