Weird anxiety issue - can anyone relate?

[FelineUK]

I guess it's come on since I hit my 50s, I'm 55 this year.. an anxiety issue that has started is to do with 'stuff' or 'things', having, in my mind, too much of anything and what can I do with it.. what am I going to do with.. and what's going to happen to it once I get too old to deal with it!

For example..

Book, CDs, DVDs - I look around at my bookshelves.. too full (but I'm just talking about a few bookshelves, not wall-to-wall); too many cookery books in the kitchen (about 12) which I hardly use now as I tend to get recipes quicker online, but they're laying on the worktop making me feel guilty because I never use them
Too many clothes - some I wear now, some I can't fit into.. yet (I have been slimming so hope to fit into more - just tried on about half a dozen coats, three of which I can now wear so diet's working!) Some clothes I keep because 'what if'
Too much jewellery - well that's what my brain is telling me as I hardly wear jewellery these days as ears have become so sensitive

And then we get to what I see online..

Bookmarks - all these bookmarks, when am I ever going to use them?
Email inboxes and folders - whenever gmail tells me how much space I'm using I panic and start deleting old emails.. but as many as I delete as many new ones arrive
Pinterest - the mother of all anxiety, I used to love pinterest but now it's just like a weight on my shoulder - go to one recipe for a cheesecake and there's a link to a thousand more and you just think 'but I don't have enough hours in the day to make all these!!'
Instagram - same thing - recipe, travel, DIY, hack ideas - you save them all, and then think 'when am I ever going to refer to these'.. but the pressure is there.
Phone - downloaded apps I've never or rarely used but just can't quite hit the 'delete app' button.
TV - we did have a separate piece of equipment to watch foreign channels but stopped using it, thank god.. 100+ channels.. what the hell! Bad enough with just the three or so main channels we watch, with Netflix, and even that's too much choice!

And so on and so on. I am bombarded by stuff and options, and the stress of it manifests as genuine anxiety attacks with heavy, shallow breathing, racing heart and unable to focus. It's ridiculous.

There must be some psychological reason why I'm feeling like this. Lack of control? Concern about future (I have no kids to take care of stuff once I'm gone)? Some stuff like clothes I'm trying to get rid of, other things it's more difficult, some sentimentality attachment etc. With the internet, I need to stop bookmarking or keeping emails - just read and delete, delete, delete! When I was younger it was ok to have a 'cosy' home full of things, but now I want to have a minimal existence so there's less to deal with later in life.

Can anyone relate to this.. anyone at all?

I could've written all of this myself. I'm 40 now and have suffered with this for a while. Whenever my anxiety flares up it effects my "stuff anxiety" and I end up randomly getting rid of stuff, which I usually regret much later on. When i cant find something u have to check to make sure i dodnt randomly chuck it away in a fit of clearing out.
You're not alone here at all.

I think it's partly a backlash to modern living. We have soo sooo much stuff relative to previous generations. My sons have barely anything- all they care about is virtual/digital. They have basic clothes and shoes- exactly what they need- a computer and a phone.

We are the in between generations, everything available. We replace things because we want to, fancy a change, rather than because the original is no longer fit for purpose. In our lifetime, 'things' have been cheap. We've bought and bought and bought.

Sorry, rant over!

And yes, I want to trim all the excess stuff from the house. Except kitchen gadgets. I want all the kitchen gadgets!

I'm going through something similar OP and I'm late 40s. I can't stand 'stuff' anymore. When I was in my 20s I loved having things about me but I'm gradually getting rid off it all.

I'm very attracted to Scandinavian design where everything has a place and the things out on view are chosen because you love them. I've been redecorating and am buying things as well, so I'm not just throwing things out but am taking a very mindful approach to what I do buy.

I'm also getting things like bookcases with glass doors so that I don't have to dust and have got rid off most ornaments for the same reason.

This is fascinating-the pattern of all of us at a similar age /stage experiencing the same overwhelming ness and urge to clear... my dad did it at the same stage and I roundly took the piss out of his ‘bleak unsentimental minimalism’. Now it’s happening to me-well the urge, anyway, though I have yet to manage to actually do anything about it...

What’s the app for deleting 1500 emails?

I’m 57 and feel the same. Just overwhelmed by everything including stuff.

Have contributed earlier so no 'RTFT!' -responses 😂 thanks!

Old letters from current, but old friends. Like over 30 years- friends, back before SM. I skim read and chucked them.

I now really wish I'd bundled them up with a ribbon and sent them, back to the authors, at least 2, if not 3 of them.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

What’s the app for deleting 1500 emails?

I’m 57 and feel the same. Just overwhelmed by everything including stuff.

I paid £26 for it. I got carried away when I realised what it might be able to do. It was called Clean Email.

I’m 58. I’m constantly giving things away. My house is by no means empty or minimal but I seem to have so much, more than enough.
Don’t keep things out of guilt. Give away your cookbooks if you never use them. I feel more free the less I own. It’s all just stuff and most of it means very little. I’ve got rid of literally hundreds of items over the last couple of years and haven’t given any of them a second thought.