7 Apps To Help You Kick Your Anxiety In The Butt
Cut the stress with these helpful apps.
getty Like so many of you out there, I get crazed and want to know how to deal with stress. I bite off more than I can chew, and I think everything's fine and I go along minding my own business until suddenly I go to "take a quick nap" and wake up a full three days later, dehydrated and in a state of full-blown panic.
Stress can sound funny from time to time, but it ain't a laughing matter, not really. There are lots of different tools available to you, and luckily, plenty of anxiety relief apps to help relax you.
You can buy self-help books, if you can afford it you can see a therapist to help work on managing your life. But for me, anxiety relief apps have been a real source of help and I know that's the case for lots of other folks too.
If you're looking for an app for your phone to help you better manage stress, there are so many options out there that it can seem overwhelming. When you're stressed out, feeling overwhelmed about your own stress management is the last thing you need. To that end, here are 7 of the best apps to help you out. Hopefully one of them can do the trick for you!
1. Headspace
I'm a great fan of this one. Plain and simple, it's a digital service that teaches you how to meditate and provides meditation plans for you.
Pros: It's FREE and you can access it any time and anywhere. It's even available on their website and not just that app. Because it's not like we can guarantee that we'll be around our phones when we need to use these things.
Cons: Because all of the meditation exercises are pre-recorded, it can get dry and stale. Plus, on days when it isn't working for you, it's hard not to have someone human and present and in your space be aware of that and try to bring you back to focus.
2. Calm
This is another awesome app that provides you with a variety of ways to meditate to suit your needs. Their focus in design is on the visual, so it's super aesthetically pleasing too!
Pros: There's a wide variety of options. You want to really dig in? Go for a long session. Just have three minutes? They've got you covered their too.
Cons: While some of the options on the app are free, you have to pay to "unlock" some of the meditation activities, and when one of the things you're stressed about is money, this ain't necessarily reassuring.
3. iChill
All stressed out with no place to go and not sure what to do with those feelings? This app will help you and it actually teaches you things too. The app focuses on teaching you the Community Resiliency Model, a set of self-help skills, to help you better manage stress.
Pros: This app keeps working when you aren't using it. It gives you real-world tools to try and help you manage your stress. Also, it is 100 percent free which is sexy and you know it.
Cons: There's really only one, and it's really the biggest problem I have with all of these apps: you have to actually remember that you have them and use them. If you aren't putting them to use when you're stressed out, they won't be as effective.
4. Aura
This is a mindfulness app for people with short attention spans. Each guided session lasts no more than 3 minutes and you will never, ever get the same meditation exercise twice.
Pros: Before you start each time, you have to answer a quick series of questions so the app can provide you with the best possible exercise for how you're feeling. This specificity means that you are constantly receiving mindfulness exercises aligned perfectly with your needs in any given moment.
Cons: If you like an exercise, you can't keep it or return to it once you're done. A bummer, especially since their colors and visuals are so soothing.
5. 10% Happier
This may be an app, but it's also a total lifestyle change. It's perfect for meditation skeptics. It was created by Nightline anchor Dan Harris, and it's about motivating yourself rather than centering yourself.
Pros: You get assigned a personal coach who texts you throughout your time with the program giving you one on one attention.
Cons: You get assigned a persona coach who texts you throughout your time with the program giving you one on one attention. To be clear, some people might love this, but it is my actual idea of hell to get a text from a stranger checking in on my happiness levels.
6. Stop, Breathe & Think
If you're brand new to even the idea of meditation but you think that you might benefit from it (you're probably right), I'd recommend this app as a great place to start. It helps you figure out what exactly you want to focus on and helps you build a meditation practice around that.
Pros: The app will ask you to identify how you're feeling using words from a list and then present you with options for meditation programs to download. It really helps you cut through all the crap out there,
Cons: It can feel a little bit juvenile in its design, probably because it was originally intended to be used by kids and teens. Also, you have to pay for the meditation plans.
7. Colorfy
Hey, guess what? This is an app that lets you color in stuff. Like a child. Who enjoys coloring. I know that coloring and wine is like... a thing currently, and this is one mindfulness app that is riding this fad all the way to the bank.
Pros: I mean, coloring is fun.
Cons: I get the way of thinking — you get lost in doing something relatively mindless like this. But this is hardly Buddhist monks drawing with sand. It's a coloring book for adults espousing its positive mental health properties.
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cat, Batman. She hosts the love and dating advice show, Becca After Dark, on YourTango's Facebook Page every Tuesday and Thursday at 10:15 pm Eastern. For more of her work, check out her Tumblr.
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