So as usual I’m trying to live a healthier life. It’s always hard for me to try and transform my habits into healthier habits for multiple reasons. For one thing, if I’m having a bad day it’s 100 times more difficult for me to stick to any routine, no matter how far along in it I am. Another reason is that I’m so out of shape I have to start really easy, but I get too excited and want to do more and then push myself too far and end up stopping. I also have unhealthy habits when it comes to sleeping, eating, and exercising, so it’s hard to make a change in so many areas of my life, even though I know they are all connected.
This time around I’m trying to be more forgiving to myself and the situation I’m in and start slow at a very beginning level, while not rushing myself to be better. I’m not doing great financially, so I’ve also had to find things that are free and easy to do at home while I’m getting started. I’ve also learned that if I don’t have something holding me accountable then I can very easily talk myself out of sticking to my schedule. I’ve found some phone apps that have been a game changer for me and I think are really going to help me stay committed this time around. This is in no way sponsored, just some apps that I have tried and found to be very helpful and therefore wanted to share them with you all.
- Plant Nanny – When I try to switch to 100% healthy eating, it obviously never works out well. I thought that to start things off easier I would just make sure that I am drinking enough water during the day, which in turn helps me cut out soda and other sugary drinks. This app tracks your water consumption by having you water plants. If you don’t drink enough water the plant suffers and will eventually die. I’ve found this to be a great motivator for myself, because it’s brought this change externally, even if I’m not in the mood to drink water I also don’t want my plant to die so I make myself do it. There are a variety of different plants and decorations to choose from and they have different levels of plants to go with how much you want to challenge yourself. I found it for free in the app store.
- Walking – This is another app I found for free in the app store. It is a four week walking program that tells you how long to warm up, walk, and cool down each day. The amount of time increases the farther you go into the program to keep you feeling challenged. It also has a beginner, intermediate, and advanced program so you can pick one depending on how active you already are. I am pretty much not active and my stamina sucks. A lot of this has to do with the fact that for a very long time I wasn’t able to tell the difference between my heart racing from exercise and my heart racing from a panic attack. I ended up stopping doing anything really physical because my brain would just think I’m having a panic attack and then that would end up happening, which is not fun. I’ve started out with the beginner program and it has helped me feel more active, but also in a way that I can handle.
- Bedtime Stories for Grownups – This isn’t an app but it is a podcast that can be found for free on any app that plays podcasts, I personally listen to it on Spotify. This app is exactly what it sounds like, bedtime stories. I use it to help me fall asleep and try to help create a pattern at night that shuts down all the random thoughts swirling in my brain and lets me focus on the story being told. Some days it works and some days it doesn’t, but I’m hoping that the more consistently I work this into my night time routine the more success I will find with it. I will try anything at this point to help me get a better night’s sleep!
I know that these probably seem pretty simple to most of you but I’ve learned that I need to start simple and take baby steps to really see long term success. These are apps that are helping me to start to make these small changes and I’m hoping will lead to even greater healthy changes in the future. How do you stay healthy? Do you use apps or do you find them unhelpful? I would love to hear how you create and stick to your healthy habits and lifestyle. Mental and physical health are connected and it’s so important to work on both. I am constantly putting in work with my mental health but have really realized that I need to start putting in the same effort to my physical health. I would take any and all advice you have to give!
Until next time!💚