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Paid $80 for a 'premium' meditation app that just made me anxious
I signed up for a year of Calm because everyone kept saying it would change my life. Instead I just felt guilty every day for not meditating enough. Has anyone else found an app that actually helps without all the pressure?
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baker.holly27d agoMost Upvoted
A buddy of mine dropped like $60 on a year of some meditation app, I think it was called something like "Zenify" or whatever. She kept trying to hit that 30 day streak and would literally wake up at midnight if she forgot to meditate earlier. One night she realized she was sitting there panicking about not being calm enough to log her meditation, which is honestly the most ironic thing ever. She ended up refunding the app and now just uses the free timer on her phone to sit quietly for a few minutes. She says it's way more chill because there's no little ghost telling her she's slacking off. So yeah, you're not alone in feeling like the app made everything worse.
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cooper.drew3mo ago
80 dollars, yikes. I bought a year of Headspace once and felt the same exact guilt trip when I'd skip a day. It's like the apps themselves turned meditation into another chore on the to-do list, which is the opposite of what I needed. What helped me was ditching the app completely and just sitting on my porch for five minutes before work without my phone. I noticed this with a lot of things in life, like how people buy expensive gym memberships but then feel bad when they don't go enough. The pressure comes from treating something meant to be peaceful like a goal you have to hit, instead of just a break from doing stuff. You might try the timer on your watch or even just a YouTube video with no login or tracking, way less pressure.
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leo_black763mo ago
Does @cooper.drew think the app sends ninjas to your house if you don't log in, or is it just the guilt of paying for unused content? Sounds like you found the real meditation secret, minus the subscription fees.
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jamieb803mo ago
The thing nobody talks about is how these apps are basically designed to make you feel like a failure on purpose. It's that whole "streaks" feature that gets you, like missing one day resets your progress and suddenly you're back to square one. Feels more like a game than actual relaxation, right? Maybe the real trick is just accepting you'll use it when you use it and not letting the app own your peace of mind. Either way, sitting on the porch sounds a lot cheaper than 80 bucks.
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