I plan vacations in two different ways -
1. Plan a vacation where I can use a lot of points (this is like your mindset); or
2 Plan a vacation where I want to go, when I want to go, and any use of points is nice but incidental.
Most of the time I go with plan 2, but once in a while, especially when there is a major devaluation pending, I go with plan 1.
Maybe you should try a plan 2 vacation once. Once you've made a vacation plan, allow yourself a few hours to investigate the points options, but if they require a significant change to your vacation plan, say "oh well" and use cash. When the vacation is over, you can see if you hate yourself for spending the cash; if so accept it and go back to plan 1.