How do you use technology? Do you feel it benefits you? This week I share my experience using fitness trackers and the ways it has both helped me and stressed me out.
How was my life different when I could only use analog feedback like writing down my workouts and weighing myself on the scale each day? What is it like now when I have instantaneous and constant feedback for how my body is moving, resting, breathing and otherwise functioning?
In a lot of ways, over time I became increasingly dependent on the numbers the tracker gives me. But instead of using it to improve my fitness, which is where I started out – eventually, I found I was judging myself for my numbers and feeling obsessed with looking at it while not changing a whole lot about how I live my life. Now I was living the same way but feeling worse about it than if I wasn’t tracking.
I ask myself now, can I trust my own perception of my health, body, and movement? Can I trust if I slept well or feel good even if I don’t have a tracker telling me how good or bad the night was in terms of heart rate, oxygen levels, and REM sleep?
There are benefits to tracking, and I am finding that I ought to use mine for the specific benefits that make me feel good about myself. I am letting go of the obsessive need to check the app and judge myself for how good or poorly I seem to be faring that day.
Instead, I am choosing to assess how I feel for myself before checking, and if my feeling and the tracker’s perception of the state of affairs differs, I am choosing to defer to my own feelings first and take the tracker’s input as an advisor but not an authority over me. Take that, step goal!
Your donations mean the world to me and allow me to continue to create content each week. I ❤️you and thank you from the bottom of my heart.
- leave an awesome review on Apple podcasts to help spread the word
- subscribe so you don't miss an episode wherever you stream your podcasts
Thanks for listening!
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.