I send many emails at work. I have to convey information, and some things have to be done by a specific date. I do not do this because I like to write (no pun intended). The primary purpose of sending emails is so that people read them. It is a means of communication.

The statistics also say that only 10% of your readers read the intended communication. To reach 100% of my audience, I have sent the message ten times. Now, this is not practical. I am sure I will get fired for sending too many emails.

When I started my career, I was still learning how to send emails. From watching and experience, I slowly but surely picked up good writing skills – good subject, action-oriented, due by date, etc. And my standard of writing an email is that once I send an email, there should be no follow up questions on the content. And then, I got into a position where I conducted most of my work via emails and meetings. With that came the horrifying realization that people do not read their emails. I looked down on others who wouldn’t do that. I would scold them. I would call them out in meetings, but to no avail. My emails still went unread.

And then I became wise(r) and realized that if I cannot change the world, I should join them. It does not mean I stopped reading emails, but I accepted that others would not read emails. I am ok with it primarily because there is nothing I can do about it – hence the realization that I can move mountains and make rain, but cats will continue to meow, and dogs will bark.

Once I made peace with it, I looked at what else I could do to communicate my message. So, I started talking to people or doing a recap in the meeting without any ill-will or embitterment that they haven’t read it already. And not sure what it did for others, but it made my life a lot easier. I suddenly gained a lot more inner peace. And I was nicer to people without judging them. What is the point of complaining about rain – the weather doesn’t care?

Similarly, there are so many instances in my life when I want to argue with reality. And the only problem with doing that is I lose only 100% of the time. How can one argue with ‘What Is’? And also, it is important to me that people get to hear my message – so I have to do something about it. Expecting others to read do something because it is essential for me – can work only with people who love or care for you, not the general public. It is very easy for me to get into other people’s business and not mind my own. What email they read is an individual’s business – How I get my message across to them is my business. And it is obvious which business I should focus on.

And the more I internalize reality as it is, I uncover how many times I argue with reality during the day – what a useless way to live my life. The only reality is that my fingers are typing on the keyboard as letters appear on the screen – everything else, including the weather, food, and work, is all imagination. Unless it is happening right now, it is all a fantasy.

How much of your life are you spending in imagination vs immersed in reality?