I stopped wearing my Oura ring in Costa Rica back in early June, and I’ve never felt more free in my entire life.
For years, I tracked everything:
Sleep
Activity
Resting heart rate
HRV
“Readiness”
Every morning, I’d wake up and check the data before I checked in with myself.
Then, I arrived in Costa Rica for a 14-day detox immersion in early June, took the ring off, and left it off.
And, a few days later, something shifted.
I felt…liberated.
Liberated from the numbers.
From the pressure.
From the goals.
From the quiet sense that my body still wasn’t doing enough.
In that space, I felt something else:
A deep reconnection to the innate wisdom of my body.
To the divine intelligence within me.
To the flow and rhythm within my daily experience.
And, honestly…
I move daily.
I sleep well (and know when I don’t).
I proactively regulate my nervous system.
I live in alignment—physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and energetically.
So, I had to ask myself:
If I’m already living this way…
why do I need a device to tell me how well I’m doing at being in my body?
Or to tell me when I’m not?
I don’t want to hit an Oura score.
I want to live fully in my body.
I want to embody true health — imperfections and all.
So, here’s a question for you…
Are wearable devices making you more informed and empowered in your health journey…
Or more anxious, obsessive, disconnected, and overly reliant on data and on external validation to tell us how we feel?
I don’t think wearables are “bad”.
They can be powerful tools, especially for certain conditions, seasons, or personalities.
But, tools also have a shadow side.
The New York Times recently highlighted how some Oura users are struggling with full-on “data overload”—fixating on minor fluctuations, misinterpreting metrics, and spiraling into unnecessary worry.
One user even said, “I just felt like I couldn’t do anything right to make the ring happy.”
Another was told by her doctor to stop wearing it altogether.
That line stayed with me.
For the last decade, we’ve been obsessed with numbers, graphs, metrics, dashboards, scores, and optimization.
More data. More tracking. More insight. More control.
But, I think we’re nearing a cultural turning point.
We’re realizing that more data doesn’t always mean more wisdom.
And that more tracking doesn’t always mean more health.
At some point, all of the numbers and dashboards in the world can’t compete with a very simple question:
How do I actually feel right now?
So, what if the next wave of “health” isn’t about adding more data, but about actually returning to something far more ancient?
A movement away from obsessive tracking and back toward:
Self-awareness
Intuition
Nervous system regulation
Deep connection to our bodies
A relationship with nature that isn’t mediated by screens and scores
What if we stopped asking, “What did the ring say?”
And instead, started asking, “What did my body say?”
Because your body is not an algorithm to be optimized.
It’s a living, breathing, intelligent system that already knows what to do, especially when it’s not being micromanaged every second of the day.
Sometimes the most radical health decision you can make is not a new protocol, device, or stack…
It’s the decision to trust your body again.
So, here’s a small reflection for you today.
If you use (or used) a wearable, ask yourself:
Do I feel calmer or more anxious because of this device?
Do I use the data as information… or as judgment, guilt, and shame?
Do I check in with myself before I check the app in the morning?
If I took it off for 30 days, what do I fear would happen, and what might actually happen?
There’s no right or wrong answer here.
Again, there are seasons when measurement can be incredibly helpful.
But, there’s also a point where devotion to the data becomes a subtle form of self-abandonment.
And, again, I don’t want my health to be about chasing a perfect score.
I now want it to be about living fully in my body.
What’s your relationship with wearables right now — ally, addiction, or somewhere in between? Let me know in the comments. And if you’re in a season of wanting to rebuild trust with your body and create real change from the inside out, that’s the core of my work.
And, if you have any other questions or comments, don’t hesitate to ask me any time in my weekly Q&A in my paid subscriber channel. If you’re not a paid subscriber, sign up below.
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This!
I had one for about two weeks & hated it! Made me so anxious so I returned it