My journey to fully understanding my cycle started with an App… and not one I’d recommend!
I wanted to track my cycle length and its regularity, so I downloaded a well known period tracking app. It’s what people told me to use. So I downloaded it, started logging my bleed days, and got on with it.
But the truth is, I didn’t really want to engage with it. It didn’t feel like it was made for me. And I definitely didn’t want to keep paying for something that wasn’t working.
What The App Got Wrong
The app gave me a list of symptoms to log. But that’s exactly what it felt like… a list. A checklist of things I might be feeling, none of which really gave me what I needed.
It felt like it was telling me what I should be feeling, not actually inviting me to explore what I was feeling.
I was only really tracking my bleed. Not how I felt. Not how I shifted. Not the whole picture of me across the month.
And then it told me my cycle was wrong. Too irregular. Something that needed to be fixed.
I didn’t need fixing. I am just a person with a cycle that does’t fit neatly into an algorithm.
What Changed When I Started Writing It Down
Writing just felt more natural. More like coming back to myself. Really sitting with my own emotions rather than being told what I should be experiencing.
I started tracking the whole cycle… not just my bleed days. I began to notice how I shifted physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually across the month. Patterns started to emerge. Things started to make sense.
I also brought my breath practice into it. Before I wrote, I’d take a few moments to breathe, to settle into my body, to actually check in with how I was feeling. Writing became part of a deeper practice, not just data logging, but genuine self-connection.
And there’s something about pen and paper that just feels more real. More embodied. Especially in my inner winter phase (my bleed) when the last thing I want is to be staring at a screen. Having a notebook to write in feels so much more aligned to where I am in that part of my cycle.
Plus, if you’re like me and you love stationery, this is your sign. There’s something about choosing a beautiful notebook and a good pen that brings me right back to that excitement of getting new things for school. That joy is very much part of it. 📚
And Then I Found Out What Flo Was Doing With My Data
Here’s where it gets icky…
In August 2025, a California jury found that Flo, Google and Meta had violated privacy law by collecting our menstrual data from Flo… without our consent. The data was being passed to Meta and Google through software built into the app, and used to build targeted ads of things we don’t probably need or want.
Let that sink in. The most intimate data about our bodies… when we bleed, whether we’re trying to conceive, our reproductive health… was being quietly handed to tech giants to help them sell us things. There are lots of things to scream about in the world right now and this is just another one.
And Flo was founded by men. I’m not saying that means it can’t serve women well. But I do think it’s worth asking: who built this? Who profits from it? And whose interests does it really serve?
Reclaiming Your Cycle
I’m not here to tell you what to do with your cycle data. That’s yours.
But I do want you to know that there is another way. A way that keeps your data private, that invites you to actually connect with how you’re feeling, that tracks the whole of you… not just your bleed days.
A notebook. A pen. A few minutes to breathe and check in. That’s it.
Your cycle is not data to be optimised. It’s a living, breathing, renewing part of you. And it deserves more than a checkbox. 🌿
