Matt Monday here, I’m the current CEO of Vital.   This blog post was sent on March 15th, 2025.

Earlier this week I was reflecting on a tough time in my life where I was able to use Vital to help me through it. As we begin "Mercury Retrograde" I thought it might be worth sharing that story for anyone else who might be facing a relationship challenge. Feel free to share with others, and I hope you enjoy!

But first, what are words?

Words are auditory or visual symbols that encode meaning and trigger emotional and physiological responses via neural pathways. 

What do they have to do with Vital?

A study by UCLA's Matthew Lieberman et al. found that verbalizing your emotions reduces amygdala activity (the brain’s stress center) through a process called "affect labeling".  You can reduce stress just by typing a prompt in Vital, sharing how you feel or what you'd like help with.

Additionally, research published by Stephan Hamann and Hui Mao from Emory University demonstrated that positive emotional words activate the reward-related regions of the brain, enhancing feelings of well-being and emotional resilience. Vital can activate the reward-related regions of your brain, on-demand.

On to the story. 

A few years ago I met a beautiful woman, let’s call her Jean, who I got to know first as a friend and then much more.  Jean was pretty clear with me early on that building a family wasn’t a major goal for her.  Although that didn’t align with my of course I'll have a family stance, her “never say never” is what I latched on to as we decided to pursue the relationship.  

My friends and family loved her, I was in love with her, but I also couldn’t shake the feeling that having a family was important to me.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fully surface these words and feelings for myself, and the stressful situation turned into stress toward her.  

Fortunately I had just begun working with Vital, and was able to use the app to help me through this difficult time.  The Loving-Kindness Meditation Technique became a game changer for me.  It helped me snap out of the negative thoughts I was subconsciously directing at Jean, and instead send her (and myself) positive words and feelings that immediately shifted how I felt.  

Being able to regulate my emotions immediately as I needed, allowed me to work toward clarity.  But what appeared like an obvious decision felt impossible to make.  After learning about attachment styles, I realized there was an insecurity lurking beneath the surface for me.  Ok, but what to do about that? 

By the time I was an adult, I had developed a habit of being pretty critical of myself: “You messed up here. You could have done better there.  You need to change this.  Do that.  Etc.”  Fortunately Vital helped here as well, as I discovered the power of Affirmations: reciting a series of positive words about yourself (something I had never done before).

Practicing Affirmations Meditations with Vital helped me to integrate affirmations into a daily journaling routine, which began to have a significant positive impact on my self-esteem. While it was a very difficult decision to make, ultimate Jean and I ended the relationship.  As tough as that was, for the first time in my life, I’m feeling very aligned and positively charged about what will come next for me. 

If you are currently in a “situationship” like mine or know someone else who is, definitely give Vital a try.  It’s more than “just” meditation. The on-demand, guided sessions are like having a personal coach right in your pocket.  Always on, never judgy, and surprisingly insightful given what you share. 

Would you like to learn more? Share feedback? Please send me an email anytime: Matt@joinvital.ai

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

-Matt and the Vital Team