Are You Too Suffering From Decision Fatigue?
When watching some minimalist youtubers a few weeks ago I stumbled across the expression "decision fatigue" and it really hit home. A lot of things made sense all at once and I realized I still had things to do on my minimalism journey.
If you haven't heard about decision fatigue before I'll give you a quick explanation. Decision fatigue is when you're so tired of making decisions that you feel unable of making any decisions. You start to always opt for the familiar route because you don't have the energy to explore anything else. You might experience tiredness, frustration, hopelessness and/or apathy whenever you have to make a decision as simple as deciding what to wear in the morning simply because there are too many alternatives to choose from.
We are constantly surrounded by stimuli and it's only natural that we get tired. Something always wants our attention. It feels only logical for me to help myself out a bit more here. I've definitely been feeling a lot of decision fatigue the past two years and I've realized I've started asking my boyfriend to make a lot of my decisions, simply because I didn't want to or have the energy to make them myself. When it comes to choosing what book to read, I've also started asking my instagram followers to narrow it down for me a bit whenever I need to make a decision. All of these things are pointing towards me suffering from decision fatigue and there is no doubt in my mind that I do. And I really wouldn't be surprised if you are too.
So what can you do if you suffer from decision fatigue? Well, you can try to minimize the times you have to make decisions. Start meal planning and shop accordingly and you won't have to decide what to eat every meal. Declutter your wardrobe and maybe even create a capsule wardrobe to give yourself less alternatives. Do the same with all of the areas that stress you out and create routines that will help you with decision making.
Personally, I've started to write out the weeks to-do's in my calendar every week. I've even started writing down the makeup looks I'm going to do every day so that I won't have to think of that in the morning. If it says "A blue look inspired by Hades" then that's what I'm doing. Simple as that. This means I'm no longer just contemplating what to wear for 15 minutes before actually starting my makeup. The fact that I have a special makeup basket for the products I wear every day has also helped me a lot with this issue. The goal however is to not have any extras so that I won't be able to choose between the foundation that matches my skin and the one that doesn't.
Some other things I've been doing is meal-planning every week and writing a weekly schedule with chores. There's less time spent deciding what to do and more time spent actually doing.
Decision fatigue is something I want to eliminate from my life. I don't have time to spend an extra hour of my life on hold just because I don't know what I should eat that day, if I should write the blog post first and then do my makeup or the other way around. I need structure and routines, I need planning and I need minimalism. My life is full of maximalism in so many other areas that I really need minimalism in my home and my daily routines.
There's one thing you have to remember when you start eliminating unnecessary decision making from your life. Do not create a prison for you. If you enjoy wearing colourful clothes, don't create a capsule wardrobe with only black and grey pieces. If you are on a budget and need to shop in the reduced section, keep doing that but make sure you have a meal planned out for everything you buy so that you don't end up having to make decisions about that broccoli later that week. Give yourself the freedom from unnecessary decision making, but don't lose yourself on the way.
So what can you do if you suffer from decision fatigue? Well, you can try to minimize the times you have to make decisions. Start meal planning and shop accordingly and you won't have to decide what to eat every meal. Declutter your wardrobe and maybe even create a capsule wardrobe to give yourself less alternatives. Do the same with all of the areas that stress you out and create routines that will help you with decision making.
Personally, I've started to write out the weeks to-do's in my calendar every week. I've even started writing down the makeup looks I'm going to do every day so that I won't have to think of that in the morning. If it says "A blue look inspired by Hades" then that's what I'm doing. Simple as that. This means I'm no longer just contemplating what to wear for 15 minutes before actually starting my makeup. The fact that I have a special makeup basket for the products I wear every day has also helped me a lot with this issue. The goal however is to not have any extras so that I won't be able to choose between the foundation that matches my skin and the one that doesn't.
Some other things I've been doing is meal-planning every week and writing a weekly schedule with chores. There's less time spent deciding what to do and more time spent actually doing.
Decision fatigue is something I want to eliminate from my life. I don't have time to spend an extra hour of my life on hold just because I don't know what I should eat that day, if I should write the blog post first and then do my makeup or the other way around. I need structure and routines, I need planning and I need minimalism. My life is full of maximalism in so many other areas that I really need minimalism in my home and my daily routines.
There's one thing you have to remember when you start eliminating unnecessary decision making from your life. Do not create a prison for you. If you enjoy wearing colourful clothes, don't create a capsule wardrobe with only black and grey pieces. If you are on a budget and need to shop in the reduced section, keep doing that but make sure you have a meal planned out for everything you buy so that you don't end up having to make decisions about that broccoli later that week. Give yourself the freedom from unnecessary decision making, but don't lose yourself on the way.
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| My summer favourites made it really easy to do a quick makeup look before running out the door. |
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