Why I built Pause & Breathe
As I write this, I'm in the middle of one of the hardest stretches of my life.
Not a pity party, that's just the truth. It sucks.
AND I'm still standing. Still functioning. Still building things. Still knowing who I am and what I value. Still knowing what sort of thing is and is not my bag, as Austin Powers might say.
Many things feel true at once, and learning to hold them together is most of my practice right now.
One of the things that helped (and continues to help) me hold it together is my breath.
My yoga teacher, Danielle (who is truly an angel sent to me from the Universe) said something to me once. I've been gifted versions of this line by a few incredible teachers over the years, enough that it stopped feeling like a quote and started feeling like a fact:
"Your breath has been there for you, from the moment you were born. And it always is available to you."
When other things feel unreliable, my breath isn't. So I built a small app around that idea.
I'd always wanted to build an app, or at least try.
I'd been in engineering management for years, hadn't coded in forever, and iOS specifically with all of Apple's rules? Well... you tell me idk, ha 🤷♂️ I knew it would involve Swift. I knew I wanted the infra to be future looking and WHY... so I don't make a total mess of things when using AI (this is why I so often joke "they don't let me code anymore!"). And when it's super hard to focus, I knew I wanted the system to be able to help me help itself. Broadly speaking, that's about all I knew.
Turns out, AI is useful for some of that. (oh this is the part where, being in tech, I claim AI will bring about world peace, save humanity, end hunger, and turn the world into a utopia? haha, jk! It is a useful tool and I appreciate it for what it is.)
That's not what this is about anyway. Roughly two months ago I decided to stop wanting and try.
The first one is called Pause & Breathe.
No streaks. No notifications guilting you back. No upsells trying to upgrade you to "premium serenity." No ads trying to squeeze clicks or attention out of you... as if you, me, ANY human is a damn number. No way to even purchase the app (there is a gratitude tip section. The app NEVER nudges you towards it ). This app will ALWAYS remain free.
I built it for me first, maybe selfishly so. To help me remember the simple techniques I'd already learned. To add more advanced ones over time.
Just a small, quiet way to slow down for a minute when the world is too loud.
Then I realized... it was never only about me. It was for that feeling when life pops you hard as hell on the chin, in the middle of a "routine" weekday. I want that available to me, no doubt about that.
AND, I want it to be available forever to you too.
And so, it is.
I built it for so many reasons, and I really, really hope it helps at least one other person besides me. I don't know yet if it has. I don't know if it ever will.
Maybe you'll be the one. That would be more than enough. Maybe not. Either way, here it is if you'd like to try it:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pause-breathe/id6761143102
--Drew 🪷
