Headspace is a guided meditation app for iPhone and Android. It was first mentioned to me when I was still serving in the military and when I started training in law we were offered to have a subscription as a perk of the job.

Like most things an employer asks me as an employee to do in their own time, Headspace got filed in my brain under “Probably Not Fun”. As a result, I completely ignored it – until now.

Regular readers will remember that two weeks I had a mental health wobble. Not great, don’t really want that to happen again.

My problem is probably the stressful career choice and the long hours. Sure, I’ve written a few times about giving it up, but it’s also well paid and can be made into self-employment after a few years of experience. If I can keep it going a couple more years, I’ll probably be set for CoastFI.

Deciding that something must be done, I downloaded Headspace app to see if “mindfulness” and “meditation” might help.

Bias disclosure: I went into day one with the preconception that this is all a load of crap, but I’ll try anything once. It’s probably going to be obvious in my writing. My bad!

Day one: well, this sucks

Not the most welcoming app ever

I didn’t really know where to start, so I signed up for a free trial, with the promise threat that I might pay a full £49 annual subscription fee if I don’t cancel by Day 13.

The app isn’t very good at signposting you. They’ve spent a lot of money on colourful cartoons. If you’re sceptical about this meditation stuff, you’re going to feel really dumb scrolling through smiling orange and blue blobs.

The layout and branding is a bit of a turn off . Lots of colour, which is great, but I had to scroll past things like John Legend’s Playlist before I could get to the beginner’s course.

Eventually, I found the lesson, about midway down the scrolling page. Good start.

Actually doing the day one lesson

What’s kind of cool is that there are a few different instructors to choose from.

I tried a few, but in the end picked the lady with the least American accent. I already felt weird enough, I figured someone who sounded closer to home would be more relaxing.

She told me to sit down. I didn’t have anywhere to sit, so I lay down instead.

There was some stuff about focusing on your breathing. I think it’s meant to centre you, but it didn’t seem to work for me. My mind was still in turmoil from the stresses of the day, and I pretty much felt like I’ve wasted everyone’s time and effort.

Frustrated, I tried to play guitar, but I was stressed out and over caffeinated from too much legal work that week. Understandably, I sounded even worse than usual.

End of day one first impression

Why am I even here?

Day two: a little less crap

It was a little easier to find my way around the second time, as the “my profile” tab on the app showed me what I was looking at on the last use.

I played session two of the beginner course. This time, I sort-of got into the rhythm of it, but not quite. It helped that day two was a Friday in my case, the stress of the week being temporarily forgotten with the respite of a weekend.

Focusing was a little easier second time. The three minutes went by effortlessly and before I knew it I was at the end of the session.

Not sure if I was “getting it”, but the experience sucked less hard than day one.

Days 3-5: Not sure if I’m doing this right

I only knew I’d been doing this for five days because the teacher – who I now know for sure is called Eve – congratulated me on a fifth session.

What? Seriously? It’s been five days?

Freaky.

Not sure how I feel about having missed recording a note of my thoughts on days 3 and 4. Seemed like cheating to record my thoughts for those sessions on day 5. Then again, does it matter if anyone or no-one reads this post? Won’t I still have the same experience writing it?

I had no idea what I was doing during the sessions. I’d managed to get to the point of focusing on my breathing, but I barely noticed my mind wandering until Eve called out a reminder through my headphones to come back to focus.

Eve mentioned on day 5 that meditation is one of those things you can’t simply put more effort into to get better. I believe her. I sort-of know that this is having an effect, but I’ll be damned if I know how it’s working at this point.

Had one of my more productive guitar practices on day 5. Not sure if this is linked.

Day 6: nah, go back a step

You’d think that you could master relaxing and letting your mind softly focus in five days. After all, you’ve been thinking your whole life. You’re a pro at thoughts! So much experience!

Well, that’s what I thought. Turns out that’s not the case. Bugger.

I struggled through day 6. Barely kept my thoughts on my breathing, let alone preventing them from struggling. How do I meditate again?

Day 7: emotional?!

Maybe it’s pure placebo effect, but at the end of the session I actually felt close to tears.

I’m not someone who cries. It’s not my thing, and it wasn’t my thing this time, either. But by the end of the session I felt a strong, intense feeling of relief.

It hasn’t lasted long after the three minute session. Might be a one-off moment. Guess I’ll never know the answer.

If I knew what I was thinking about I’d tell you. Well, probably. Honestly though I was just following the exercise instructions.

Weird!

I didn’t meditate at all for the two days after this. It’s probably the suprise emotion that weirded me out. I did an internet search and learned that this is actually a very common phenomenon.

Thoughts on a week of Headspace

Meditation in general

I was a lot less stressed than the week before I started, and work hadn’t slackened off.

Meditation is hard. It’s not a skill you can try harder at to get better, either. No extra effort really changes your progress.

The Headspace app concept is cool. I like that there are a few instructors to choose from, and that there’s a beginner-friendly course. However…

The app itself is – marmite.

If you’re the kind of person that needs reassuringly colourful and childish cartoons to get you into something, it’s probably your jam. If you’re a sceptical person who already feels daft trying something like this out, the design will make you doubt your sanity and question your decision to start.

Don’t expect a logical layout. The app doesn’t start you at the beginner’s course, and expects that you kind-of know what you’re looking for.

How will this help your financial independence campaign?

Financial independence campaigning is stressful

There are three big stresses in any financial campaign:

  • Spending intentionally requires you to think about what you buy and avoiding temptation
  • Saving and investing means not using your resources today and trusting that an investment will pay off over time
  • To create a surplus to invest, you’re probably working pretty hard

These are common to all financial independence campaigns, no matter what your strategy is.

Meditating did reduce my stress levels

I don’t know how or why it worked, but that 3-minute meditation for a week seemed to work.

Maybe meditating can work for you?

Free 30-day trial of Headspace

I don’t make a penny from this referral link, but if you use my referral link below you can get a free 30-day trial if you sign up to Headspace.

Beware! If you don’t like it, make sure you cancel on day 29 so you don’t end up paying for it.

https://www.headspace.com/referral/z6jb3?slug=84fd59&audio=false

My financial independence campaign continues…