I’ve been wearing an Ōura ring to track my sleep, activity, and readiness for well over a year now. I get meaningful data from it: it tells me how recovered I am and helps me to plan my training so I can prevent injury. But recently its been creating some unwanted side effects. If I don’t get a good sleep score, I panic and wonder what I did wrong. If my readiness is down, I do my best to “take it easy” and not push myself. I overassess over calories burned and miles walked. The whole thing was stressing me out.

So I took it off.

Sure, I’ll be missing some valuable data about how my body is performing. But guess what? I didn’t want to be a slave to this health-tracking device anymore. I’m in control of my body. I’m in control of how I spend my days and the life I want to create. My mind is more powerful than a readiness score. Whether I’m feeling good or not, I’m going to start pushing myself again, like the good-old days.

The ring taught me a lot about myself, like how I need to be in bed for 9 hours and how at least one day of week should be taken off. But I know this stuff now. It’s time to bring it into practice. I am in control, and nobody can take this control away from me.

Are you in control? Or are you a slave to your ring, or your watch, or your phone, or your grades, or your scale? Are you a number or a human being with a mind—the most powerful tool on earth?

The good news? You decide your fate. You just have to take responsibility for the outcome.