There's this quiet kind of exhaustion that comes from having or doing too much. Having too many options, too many tools, too many decisions waiting for you before the day even starts properly.
I barely even noticed it. It just creeped in.
When I Started Outsourcing My Thinking
Somewhere along the line I started letting AI do lots of my thinking for me. Questions, Stuck on idea? Need to make a decision? I ask AI. It was fast, made things easier, it was convenient, but then it was making me less sharp.
I saw it as a problem. So I made a quiet decision to...I pulled back. Started trying to figure out things for myself again. Trying to work things out in my own head again before reaching for a shortcut. It felt uncomfortable attack first, honestly. Like using a awakening a muscle that has gone soft from underuse.
But slowly I began noticing changes, my thinking got clearer. I started feeling more confident, and my mind felt more at peace. In a good way.
That's when I began to see the bigger picture.
The Real Cost of Too Many Choices
Every unnecessary decision costs you something. Not really money but attention. And attention is one thing you can't get back.
To think about it. The time spent scrolling through options before settling on something else simple. The mental back and forth of trying to achieve five goals instead of two or one at a time. The low-level stress of a cluttered workspace, or phone full of apps you barely even open .
None of these feel heavy in it's own, but it stacks up.
Psychologists call it decision fatigue ; the idea that every choice you make, no matter how little, draws from the same mental energy reserve. By the time you made a thousand tiny decisions before noon, the important ones start to suffer.
What Simplifying Actually Looks Like
Simplifying doesn't have to be dramatic. Nobody's asking you to sell or dispose your belongings and move off the grid.
It is simply:
- Wearing simple outfits so mornings stop feeling like negotiations
- Dropping a few unnecessary goals
- Eating simpler meals so as not to overthink nutrition every day
- Choosing to think something through yourself before instantly delegating it to a tool
Small things. But they compound.
Peace Is What's Left When You Stop Overloading Yourself
The calmest people do not have fewer problems, they have fewer unnecessary decisions that require their attention everyday. They simplify their inputs so they can focus on what truly matters.
So it's not about living with small means, it's about being intentional with where your energy goes.
Images belong to me