I have my go-to apps for email, business productivity, communication, music, sports, and my guilty pleasure – Tetris. I try to monitor my consumption on social media, so I have avoided adding social platform apps except for Instagram.

I have almost never intentionally paid for an app, not wanting to part with any amount of money without being certain that I’d get enough value back for my hard earned dollars. I think a lot of you might be with me here.

All that factored in, I downloaded a new app in the summer of 2017, purchased an annual subscription within four days of downloading it, and it’s been a mainstay of my daily routine ever since. That app is Headspace. It introduces people to meditation and daily mindfulness.

If you had suggested meditation to me two or three years ago, or even better yet, had suggested to me I’d be doing it daily at some point, I would have called it hooey. I had assumptions about what meditation was and wasn’t, and it wasn’t something I thought was for me. Then two things happened: 1) I read a book that featured interviews with over 150 accomplished people and the ONLY commonality among 80% of those interviewed was they did some form of daily meditation/mindfulness activity, and 2) my wife had just tried Headspace and gave me an extra nudge to check it out. So I gave it a try, and I’m extremely thankful I did.

Life is busy. Really busy at times. I run my own business, which poses its own set of daily challenges. I have a number of friends who work in various fields and are balancing work, parenting, relationships and overall life. Headspace has helped me (and some of my friends) learn about what meditation is and isn’t and how to better control and identify the constant bombardment of ‘noise’ that we see and hear every day (how many times a day am I looking at my phone? Checking my email? etc.). It’s also helped with my creativity, patience, and relationships, and has given me a tool to help reset in hectic moments.

Headspace has mini animation videos and meditations that vary in topics from anxiety to helping with sleep to patience to relationships. They range from 3-20 minutes, so it gives beginners a chance to still get some of the benefits without over-comitting. The app tracks your journey and gives visual motivation when you use it for a number of days consecutively. Some sessions are far better than others, but you learn to not judge the process and stay committed.

So, if you want to help slow down the craziness of life or try something new as you look ahead to 2019, give yourself a breather and try Headspace. It’s the best (okay, only) app I’ve ever purchased, and if you get the same benefits as I did, it’ll be well worth the time and money.

David Green is an entrepreneur, Full Stack Web Developer and Google Adwords Certified digital marketer.  He is the Owner of Devslove, a web development, design and digital marketing agency focused on telling the digital story of startups and SMEs. He is also a Chapter Lead of Girls Learning Code, an organization focused on introducing girls aged 3-12 on the opportunities and impact they can have in the world of technology.