"The beauty of my body is measured... by the stories that it tells."
~Sarah from I AM Beautiful~
We behave differently when our performance is being measured somehow, whether by someone watching us, or by wearing a heart rate or movement monitor. We step it up a notch, try a little harder, and have a sudden interest in wanting to shine. I have observed this in myself and in others.
Without the monitor we are content to be good enough. We work at an intuitive level that suits our style, and because it's intuitive, it feels good. When we amp it up a level, we increase our risk for injury and discomfort, but we also raise the bar on our limits and stretch beyond our usual comfort zone. If we are already inclined to push ourselves perhaps we go too far when monitored, and if we are not inclined to push ourselves, then maybe it's just the thing.But either way, being watched or watching myself turns my focus away from the pleasure of the activity and locks me in to results and scores and competition, and while a little of this may be healthy, too much of it suffocates my soul.
I use tracking devices with caution recognizing that even as they have the ability to measure my progress, they also have the ability to strip pleasure and intuition from my life.
