Clearing both your inbox & your mind

I recently returned to work following ten months of maternity leave.

Like everyone else I dreaded the thought of getting up in the morning, getting the kids organised for crèche, getting them there and then getting myself onto the train, into work on time and looking corporate. I also had that fear of returning to work and feeling like the new girl, would I remember how to do my job? Would I still love my job like I did when I left?

I needn’t have worried. I sat on the train spotting all the same faces as before, walked up to get my coffee and the barista said, “we haven’t seen you for a while”. I smiled and when I walked into the office our receptionist smiled and said, “Good morning, welcome back”. Clearly returning to work was something I had made way too much of a big deal about and I just slotted back in.

I logged into my PC and noticed all the emails from before I left still sitting in my inbox and all my files and folders alongside with emails from 2007! I started to think to myself, do I really need these? Why have I kept them? I decided I would delete them all, start afresh, but then I started to panic, my heart was racing. What if I delete something REALLY important? Ok maybe I’ll just check them. As I was trawling through the mountains of mails I thought to myself, “I felt like the new girl this morning” and if I really was “the new girl” then I would have none of this history, it would be completely blank. So I did it! I deleted every single last one of them and it felt amazing. I have approached my return like a new job and it has been exciting and kept me focused and my mind off my kiddies.

So the moral of the story is… approach each new day like it’s the start of something wonderful and amazing, because you never know where it might lead you!