Due to some little things here and there, including receiving a “password reset” email from Instagram for my current account on Friday, I decided it best to completely separate and change my emails about. (Note: if you get one of those, go to Instagram (not from the email!) and go into the Settings. Forget what it’s under, but they actually show you recent emails they’ve sent you. So I was able to see it was genuine.) I’ve always been very good at keeping my “financial” email separate from my “social,” email (social networks, not socializing I mean), and then have one for my “newsletters,” so that my email system doesn’t get swamped with stuff I can’t get to and have to sort through, but I got lazy.

And I’ve been experiencing these weird little things that I take as a sign. I’ve mentioned I have learned to listen to my instincts. I’ve been seeing a lot of these “hacker,” emails and people experiencing the same. I’ve seen things like that the past year which I’ve just been “block,” “delete,” move on. I’ve learned to almost treat life like a highway I’m driving down. This is the easiest method to explain it, lol.

Where you’re driving down the road and you see a little mile marker. You know at a certain one, your turn is coming up. So you follow those signs. But then you start to see “road ahead closed,” or whatever. Or detour signs that you have to follow. Or maybe a cop is on the road directing traffic.

Well, when I keep seeing nudges like that for a while and then start to experience my own personal things that I won’t go into, I realize if I don’t listen, there is a good chance that I’m about to get a nice little spanking from the universe. Either to get my attention or, “I freakin warned you so now you gotta pay!”

So I’ve been changing everything about over the weekend, including deciding that it best to have everything separated in terms of email. To make SURE that is, that everything is still separate too. I got into that habit because I didn’t want my Avon customers to be emailing me while I was beginning to build my book career, and having those emails in the same place. Then I didn’t want my social networks connected to that either. Same that we learn with not giving out phone numbers to social networks unless we suddenly want a ton of weirdos calling our phones, THROUGH the FB messenger. They’ve probably changed it, but I was having people who weren’t even on my friend’s list using the messenger app to call me as soon as I put my phone number (it was private, nobody could see it) on my FB profile. I didn’t have phone service either during that period, but I did have the FB Messenger app – hence I no longer use it. I kept turning off that ability for them to call, then got fed up and removed my number and the messenger app.

No more weirdos.

Sooooooo. As stated, I’ve decided to switcheroo a bunch of things about so as you will see below, I have the email you can reach me at as kim@kimberlysueiverson.com, and I’m going to leave the other I’ve been using up, but nearly 90% of what I use it for will be changed about. The email above I am able to forward it to wherever I choose. It’ll be easier if I have to change emails to have that forwarding changed, versus telling people to change the email they have listed.

Let this be a good reminder if anyone else has been getting lazy. Keep emails separate as much as possible so that IF your system is hacked you do have separate places. Say, if your socials are hacked, that same email and information isn’t the one you use for banking. For financial records. It’s not the same email you give out for newsletters. Things we all know, but it’s still worth that reminder. I am grateful that I haven’t had that problem, but I am looking into many others ways to separate and keep my information private that is out there. I’ve been careful about what I do share because of that, but it’s still good for the reminder. Especially as my career picks up, I want to be prepared.

Same with your home computer system and your cloud. Same with the files you need if you’re an author. If this instant, your computer is frozen, what about the files? The stuff you use for writing? The ones you need for your covers? Your financial records? Your cloud information? Is everything connected and dangerously so? Issssss it possible for you to be like, well keep the computer, my stuff is safe and backed up elsewhere. I have nothing I need to worry about getting out there. It’s like the celebrities who have their photos posted all over. Photos that were taken from a cloud that were private. If it’s connected to the internet and it’s all in one place, consider it getting out. What will this instant? Just give it some deep thought. Not the instant, “oh well that will never happen to me!”

I’m doing it now as a preventative because of all I’ve been seeing and experiencing, and then that Instagram email. It wasn’t an, “oh my god!” for me as much as an, “okay this is a good sign for taking action with what I’ve been thinking about. JUST in case.”

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