The App I Avoid Using

I built Mudo because every mood tracking app I tried felt like homework. Too many fields. Too much friction. I wanted something I could open, tap once, and be done in five seconds.

But here's the irony: sometimes I avoid using my own app.

Last week, I felt anxious about something I couldn't name. My thumb hovered over Mudo's icon. I thought about logging it. Then I put my phone away and told myself I'd feel better in an hour, or so anyway. No point recording this. It'll pass.

Or I'll log a mood — "frustrated," maybe — and then stare at the "Add note" option. I know I could write why I feel frustrated. But adding a note means creating a permanent record of this vulnerability. So I skip it. Just the emoji mood log. That's enough, right?

The app I built to reduce friction somehow still has friction — but the friction is me.

What I'm realizing

I've been doing this my entire life: avoiding feelings, not letting them breathe, waiting for them to dissolve on their own. When I'm sad or angry, I tell myself it's temporary, so why acknowledge it, why keep a permanent record of it?

But then those emotions bottle up. And later, when I'm upset about something small, I don't actually know what I'm upset about. It's not "the small things." It's everything I didn't let myself feel before.

Logging a "sad" or "angry" mood in Mudo isn't about fixing it. It's about letting it exist. Not judging it. Not rushing past it. Just acknowledging: I feel this right now.

Maybe I don't know why yet. But once I have a record — once I see the pattern — I can start to understand myself better. That's the whole point of Mudo. And I keep forgetting it's the point for me, too.

What I'm building into Mudo

I'm focused right now on making the visual history clearer. When you open your calendar view or timeline, you should immediately see: Oh. I feel this way every Tuesday. Or: I was happy most of last week, but Thursday was rough.

Patterns don't reveal themselves in the moment. They reveal themselves when you step back and look at the record.

I love keeping records — I even record audio logs of my days, like a little diary — but audible. There's something grounding about knowing my thoughts and emotions aren't just vanishing into the void. They're logged. They exist. And they are a constant reminder of how real, human, and valid my emotions are.

Mudo lets me do that with the least effort possible, which means I'm more likely to actually do it.

Even when I don't want to.

That's what I'm noticing this week. What about you? Reply and tell me if you ever avoid tracking the hard stuff? I do read every response.

That's all for now.

See you soon.