Surviving the e-mail onslaught

I came to a realization tonight.

For months, I've been trying to get out from under a flood of email (still have 3,800 unread emails). Even though I've unsubscribed from a number of mailing lists, the situation keeps getting worse, with hundreds of new email arrivals each day. What to do -- especially with an increasing workload and not a chance of clerical help?

Until now, I've been thinking about how to manage email. How to answer every interesting or relevant missive that comes across my in-box. But I've been thinking about this the wrong way. It's not about managing, or organizing. It's about survival.

Tomorrow I'll plunge into my in-box, but not with the thought or hope of cleaning it out and keeping it under control. That's clearly impossible. Instead, I'll dip into it on an as-needed basis, look at what I need to address (chiefly from people I know), and not get heartburn about the whole thing. Communication should be an uplifting experience, not a chore.

That's the only way I'll be able to cope.