As I was looking at my ‘Awards’ on my Apple watch – I remember when all of these little reminders to stand was a point of anxiety for me – not award. I needed to get all the marks for standing every hour. When I would go on a drive for a few hours, I would pull over just so that I could stand – and sometimes would spend 5 minutes moving around to get that little mark that said I stood up during that hour.

Later I realized that you needed to be moving for a minute before you got the mark – and there would be times when I would be moving for over a minute and not get the mark. Other times, I would just be in the car and moving my arm and I would get the mark.

Eventually, I realized that these stupid marks were more points of anxiety in my life – not award. I was re-ordering my world in order to get these marks. I stopped wearing the Apple watch when I realized this Artificial Anxiety that I had in my life. I stopped wearing it for months.

I don’t need to get all the marks any more. I think the value of wearing it and tracking my workouts and heart rate is more helpful than not. I still look at the marks, but I don’t re-order my world just to get marks any more.

All this makes me wonder how many other things in my life create Artificial Anxiety for me.

Have you experienced this? Do you have an Apple Watch? What else in your life gives you Artificial Anxiety?