More than a year of pandemic living has taken a toll on most of us. It’s affected our ability to be productive and for some of us even our ability to function. Because we all need the extra support right now, I’ve been delving into self-care. We’ve talked about why self-care is crucial for productivity and recommended strategies for self-care.
“Awesome, Jamie. You’ve told me self-care is important to my productivity and a few things about how to get there. Now I’m freaking out, because there are more things I need to be doing in the day!”
Okay. Don’t freak out.
We’ve got this.
“Umm—maybe, you’ve got this? Telling me I should sleep more doesn’t help me actually sleep.”
You’re right. So, today I’ve compiled resources to help you get from the idea that self-care is important to implementing self-care.
Mental Health
1) Talkspace
I haven’t personally used this one, but this is a cool app. It allows you to video chat with a licensed therapist and comes with the added benefit that you can send messages or pictures to your therapist at any time and they will reply up to 5 times a week.
This is awesome for those of us who live in metropolitan sprawls where a commute in traffic to a therapist could easily take longer than the hour you spend on the couch.
The only downside is Talkspace is a subscription service and it starts at $99/week. If you have insurance it likely won’t pay for a subscription service but might pay for a session with a counselor. So, that’s something to consider.
2) Headspace
This one is cool! It’s the learning app that doubles as a self-care app. You can find articles on all sorts of mental health and self-care related topics from “How to Stop Negative Self-Talk” to “How to Stop Nightmares.” There is a whole section dedicated to sleep, but there are also articles on mindfulness, meditation, nutrition, and dealing with conflict. At $13/month this is a valuable resource.
3) Balance
Balance is a meditation and sleep app. In some ways, it’s similar to Headspace except it’s hyper-focused on sleep and meditation. There is a free version, but you can upgrade to a paid version.
4) Jour
Right now this one is only available for iPhone (Apple) users, but it’s a guided mindfulness journal. It helps guide your thoughts and gratitude with quick prompted writing exercises. This is awesome because writing your thoughts out gives you a chance to reflect and grow from them.
There is a free trial. I think it becomes a paid subscription after that, but I couldn’t track down an exact price point on this one.
Behavioral Health
This is closely linked to mental health but isn’t exactly the same. Mental health focuses on keeping our thoughts healthy and balanced. Behavioral health focuses on the actions that encourage healthy and balanced thoughts.
5) Freedom
Freedom is an app that allows you to block whatever you want from your internet access for however long you want! This might not sound like a self-care app to the neuro-normative among us, but with ADD or ADHD, the ability to block distractions is a game-changer and quickly turns into self-care because if distractions lead to longer work hours that leads to less exercise or sleep or unhealthy but convenient food choices.
You can opt to block “social sites,” and you can even pick and choose what sites belong on that list. I frequently block Facebook and Twitter. I have a small Discord group of four people including myself I like to interact with as I work because they encourage me. So, Discord isn’t on my social block list, but you can customize this however you need to.
You can also just block the internet—which I don’t do because I need it to work—or create a customized list of sites that distract you. Right now you can get Freedom on ALL of your devices for less than $2.50/month, but they always have discount codes and sales prices.
6) Done
If you’re trying to build new habits or break bad habits, this is the app for you. Like many of the other apps, there is a free version or you can upgrade to a paid version. But the free version allows you to track 3 habits at a time and you can track those habits multiple times a day.
There are a lot of habit tracking apps out there, but most of them only allow you to track your habit once a day. This doesn’t really work out if you’re trying to drink 8 glasses of water a day or track that you’ve eaten a fruit or vegetable at every meal. I also like that Done allows you to track up to three habits at a time. It’s easier to change one habit at a time, but it’s nice to be able to work on a business/work goal and a personal goal at the same time.
The downside of Done is that it’s only available on Apple. The closest thing I found for an Android is Daily Habit Tracker which theoretically allows you to track a habit multiple times a day, but according to reviews, it’s too cumbersome to actually do.
Sleep
7) Whitenoise Lite
Whitenoise Lite is exactly what it sounds like! This free app offers a library of sound loops to block out distractions and help you sleep. And it soothes fussy babies. Since it’s free and available on all devices there is no real downside.
But Calm & Balance do the same things, so if you’re using one of those apps for meditation just use it to sleep too!
I can personally endorse white noise apps. When I’m overly stressed, they help me sleep. You know, when I can remember to use them, but still.
Nutrition/Fitness
8) Plant Nanny
OMG! This app gives you dopamine. You set a water drinking goal—believe it or not as a fully functional adult running a successful business I find it hard to drink water—and then as you drink water throughout the day you water your digital plant and watch it grow! I might be dating myself here, but it’s like a Giga Pet except the goal is to keep me alive!
9) Myfitnesspal
This is a free app that allows you to set dietary and fitness goals and track them. And it’s versatile you can track macros, calories, and exercise. You can even build meals and recipes. I have tracked my water here as well, but no fun little plant dopamine.
There is a paid upgrade, but I’m not sure why you would need to since the free app does so much. The only downside here is that the food database can be a pain to search sometimes.
10) Couch to 5k
If you like or think might like running, this could be the app for you. It starts with small workouts to get you off the couch and then gradually increases them with the goal of getting you through a 5k.
I have friends who use & love this app. I only run if something is chasing me.
The coolest thing about it is it actually integrates with my fitness pal and will post to your workout diary for you. The downside is after a two-week free trial, it becomes a subscription service.
11) Beachbody On Demand
If you don’t pay for the food plan or buy the shakes, this is $107 for a year. :0 Yeah, that sounds insane at first but it easily replaces a gym membership. It’s a streaming service of workout classes and some of them are actually fun.
Youv2 is customized for people with more than 100 pounds to lose but is really just jazzercise. Country Heat is line dancing. There are pilates and yoga classes, a HIIT class, weight training, and a ton of dance, cardio, bodybuilding, and strengthening classes.
If you have a gym membership, this is the cheaper option and you can do it from home cutting out commute time.
If you know you need to work out but don’t know where to start, this is a good place because there is so much to choose from, it would almost be hard not to find something you like.
Hopefully, this gives you some resources to start implementing better self-care! And if some of these ideas are worth a try, but you’re looking at your calendar thinking, “Yeah—but when?” or your schedule is just overwhelming in general, let’s talk about more ways I can help!
