I'm shutting off my email

I did something appalling today. I shut down my email program.

It all started because I am perpetually running out of space on my hard disk, and until I can afford to get a bigger (yet another) external hard drive and move some things over, I am forced to operate on an as-needed basis, rather than my personal preference of having a million applications open all at once. It makes my working method of impatience more effective, if I don't have to sit and wait for Photoshop to open up every time I need it.

So I reached a point early this morning when I was unable to function due to low disk space, and there seemed to be just one thing that was eating up a massive quantity – not sure if it was email or not, but at this point it doesn't matter. As soon as I closed my Mail application, I just sat there, sort of staring at my screen with a quiet curiosity.

Oh, is this what freedom is like?

And a thought hit me. What if I... ah... left it off? I have my most important account coming through on my phone, so it's not like I'm cutting myself off cold. (Please.)

It would just give me some breathing space, so my eye isn't flickering to that screen every 30 seconds, just in case a new email came in and I didn't hear the ding or didn't see the new highlighted line come up in my peripheral vision. You know. I'm actually thinking this might be a good thing, to be unplugged from this obsession, for the sake of productivity. Perhaps?

In the meantime, I've discovered the root of my space woes, and it's not Mail, but maybe I will keep it off for a while. I think I may just survive.

What about you, dear readers? Has anyone else experienced such an epiphany, and if so, how is it going? How do you handle your stream of incoming information? Curious to hear other people's experiences.