Overthinking the Things on Your Journey to Less
When on the journey toward minimalism it’s easy to find yourself spending way too much time thinking about your possessions - the very things you’re trying so hard not to have to think about.
Do I want this? Do I need this? Can I live without this?

Just because something is beautiful, could be useful, cost a fair bit of money, if it isn’t actually being used it might be better suited to a new home. Try not to make something fit into your life that doesn’t, try not to overthink it’s value. If it’s causing you stress and not being used, it’s not valuable to you.
During the process of moving toward less it’s easy to become overwhelmed.
But just know that this will not last forever.
While you may constantly have to reassess your things, your goals, your life, once you have pared down there will just be that much less to have to reassess.
Be aware that it’s not a “once and done” effort. But know that with each step forward it will get easier, there will be less to have to think about, and “overwhelmed” will become a THINK of the past.
Early on you will likely hit decision fatigue on multiple occasions. If your head is spinning, step away and focus on something else - a “no-brainer” activity. This does not have to be done all in one go. You do not have to have the perfectly minimized home and life at the outset.
If the prospect of this taking weeks or months or years makes you want to give up, take some time to think about why you’re doing this. Is it just to have a clean and organized home and life? If so, maybe you just need an organizer. But if it’s to live more intentionally with less, then maybe you’ll want to adjust your expectations and timeline to ones that are more realistic.
It didn’t take a day, a week, a month or even a year to be surrounded by clutter and chaos. So, why should you expect it to take so short a time to disentangle yourself from the life you created?
If you find yourself overthinking certain items in your space, and becoming easily overwhelmed by them, set those items aside for now and focus on the easy wins - inexpensive items that have expired, that you have way too much of, that you don’t like, trash or papers that don’t require action, things you’ve been meaning to get rid of but just haven’t.
Know that every decision is a step toward the life you want, even if it may not be the decision you wanted yourself to make right now.