I have an Oura Ring, and I must first say that I love it and it’s been giving me lots of useful data and is the most comfortable wearable smart device I have ever used. But I’ve noticed that it’s goals for me give me some feelings.

I noticed I have resentment about what the ring decides is a good goal for me, as well as comparisonitis about how I think other people live, and even about myself on my best days and how I can’t maintain that best day every day. It’s teaching me a lot about my internal motivation as well as what externally motivates me.

But also it’s enlightened me that I have my own natural rhythm. I now know that when I am pushed to my highest goal mark on a daily basis, assuming that the best I can do is what I should be doing all the time, I get angry and worn out very fast.

I appreciate the data that these devices give me, and I need to look out for how I interpret or self-judge that data. It’s just information. The ring is not god. When I look at it as a useful assessment of my overall daily movement and health markers, I love this thing. It’s when I try to push myself to be something other than what I am that I get down on myself.

My experience of noticing my feelings about my own data has given me a lot of insight into my personal judgments about movement and health, the ways I want to be admired or praised, and that I even look to technology to provide that praise when I don’t do it for myself.

The best thing I can do is keep going, not being extreme, and appreciate that I have a body that can do lots of things, that also gets tapped out at around 7 miles of walking per day. And that’s OK. At the end of the day, I don’t have to prove my worth to a ring. I just need to love myself.

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Thanks for listening!