I used to keep far more stuff than was necessary. Each individual 'keeping' decision was apparently sane. The result was keeping insane quantities of stuff. When I realised that the aggregate result was insane, I started to realised that the individual decisions, themselves, were insane. The reasoning behind them individually was sane, but the reasoning behind anything is never individual. The ego compartmentalises. It thinks individual items can be assessed without the context as a whole. This is incorrect. When I look at individual items within the context as a whole, what appears sane starts to appear insane and vice versa.
If the system as a whole is dysfunctional, far more parts are going to be contributing than initially meet the eye.
Sanity is progressive.
Every year, I get rid of half my stuff (and very little gets acquired in between). Every time I come to clear out my stuff, I discover that items that seemed indispensable one year ago are entirely redundant.
This principle applies in many different areas.
An overstuffed schedule is usually made up of elements that all appear mission-critical. Yet if the mission overall is threatened by being overstuffed, getting rid of mission-critical elements becomes necessary.
Each individual reminder, observation, nudge, and nag appears justified, reasonable, and helpful. But if the person isn't changing, every reminder, observation, nudge, and nag is insane.
Five minutes on social media doesn't hurt. But 100 x five minutes on social media a week is insane.
See?