After two weeks of sickness, I am slowly but surely getting back to exercising. I have had days on end with no movement goal reached. No rings closing.

It’s in times like these I find a lot of comfort in the reminder that fitness apps do not have emotion. No understanding, no empathy. They are simply measures of what you are doing. They have no idea why you stop or slow down. All they do is record data.

I personally use my Apple Watch and love it. I find lots of motivation there. But I need the reminder that they are simply trackers. They may tell you if you closed your rings or not, but they have no insight into your emotional well being. They lack the ability to say, “Hey, you slept terribly. How about we take it easy today? How about we see getting in the sunshine as a win?”

If you are in a season of life where life feels hard, be it from lack of sleep or sickness or injury, I pray that you would be overly and abundantly kind to yourself. There are workout programs for new moms that push them to the max with little regard for their tired, healing bodies. There are apps that track our steps with no concept of if you are traveling or home. Healthy or sick.

So continue to use your tracker of choice if it’s serving you. I know I will! But remember, all it can provide is data. You must provide the context for that data to be fully understood. As it imparts information, you insert compassion.