4 Tech Hacks That Are Helping Me Manage My Anxiety
Back at the beginning of the summer my MacBook Pro’s screen randomly broke. I was in the middle of working on something when the screen went black, but I could still hear the computer itself running. I felt the anxiety, frustration, and stress work its way up from my chest straight to my throat.
I broke down in tears as my boyfriend tried to figure out what was wrong. Ultimately, there were solutions in place that would make it possible for me to not miss a beat when it came to work or life. I knew this and still I could not undo the spiral I was already stepping into.
On the day my laptop broke I realized that I was way more dependent on technology than I was using it to help ease my stress or streamline my life. It was overwhelming me in ways I had never stopped to question because it’s always felt necessary and like there was no room to question it.
Over the last few months, I wrote about how I committed to using an iPad as much or more than I turned to my laptop. The reasoning for me was simple, an iPad made me less anxious. During the time when my computer was getting fixed, my iPad was my in between tech tool. After a few days of working solely on it I realized that the fact I could only work on one thing at a time wasn’t the drawback I thought it would be, it was actually the biggest blessing.
I have high functioning anxiety. On days that are hard, that high functioning quality can actually be the reason I feel even worse at the end of the day because I lead myself to believe that I could have done more, been better, or functioned differently if I had just tried harder. When I have a million tabs open on my computer it’s really easy to believe that the reason things aren’t getting done isn’t because there are a lot of things, but instead it’s because I’m not working fast or well enough.
It’s been a goal of mine moving forward to use technology as a partner in building a better, more fulfilling life for myself on my own terms. Below I’m sharing some of the adjustments I’ve made over the last three months that have helped.
Ipad
I mentioned this up above and plan to do a larger post on the mental shifts that have come courtesy of the iPad, but for now here’s why I think it’s worked for me — it’s forced me to remember I can only do one thing at a time and this isn’t a bad thing. It’s easy to attach my worth and my productivity very closely together. The iPad has served as a reminder that my very human limitations aren’t bad, unless I make them the things I punish myself for.
Desktop pictures for my Gmail
I hate email. I hate how I can’t keep up with it, that it feels like a never ending scroll, and that it feels so connected to everything that needs to get done. A few years back I turned off email notifications on my phone and it is still one of the best gifts I’ve ever given to myself. The idea that I’m readily available and locked in for quick responses was an expectation I was letting my email set for me. All this being said, in an effort to try to make my time in my inbox less of a painful experience, I’ve started swapping out the background images with the preloaded ones Google offers. It’s such a small swap, but having like a fairytale background or an open body of water with mountains in the backdrop actually makes a difference in making my inbox feel less stale and dreadful. It’s helped me lessen the anxiety I feel when going into my own inbox.
HABIT TRACKER APPS
I’ve been testing out a few of these apps over the last month to try to land on the one I like the most and that fits my lifestyle the best. I’m not in a place with my body and relationship with food where tracking my meals is something I want to do, but I am in a place where I want to have a holistic approach to the parts of my life that aren’t just my career. I want to better manage my time to make sure I’m prioritizing things like drinking more water, eating all my meals, reading, having quiet time, or playing with Chauncey. The app I’ve liked the best so far is called Fabulous. It allows you to build out what your desired habits are so you have a checklist of sorts you can turn to. The part I like the most is that it helps you build out habits through challenges that you have maybe been wanting to develop and it does it one habit at a time. For the first three days of using the app, the only focus was drinking a glass of water at the top of the day. That’s it. The app itself prompts you with reminders so that you understand that the reason you’re only focusing on one small thing is because that’s how healthy lives are built - one small habit at a time.
TAKING JOURNALING DIGITAL
I’ve always been attracted to pen to paper journaling, but we’re in the middle of a move and sometimes turning to my phone or my iPad just is the only thing possible. I have two different journaling options on my iPad that have really helped me in making it a consistent practice to check in on myself and how I’m feeling. The first is a regular notebook app on the iPad (I’m using Notability) where I have a notebook that’s dedicated solely to just journaling. It’s a more traditional journal format where I’m mostly free writing. Then I’ve also been using Reflectly, an app that asks you to check in once a day with your kind of high level assessment of your day and what you’re feeling. There’s so much I love about this app and will do a full post breakdown on it, but the top reason I would recommend to download is because it helps you visually see (through charts) how your own mood fluctuates, how many good days you have in a week, and what about your life is making you happy or sad. On days or weeks when my anxiety is rough, it’s really comforting to be able to turn to the visuals so I can see that I’ve actually had more better days than I can remember.
All of the above are hacks that I’m actively using and that have helped bring me down to neutral on days when life gets really overwhelming. They are most definitely not the end all be all. If you have other suggestions, feel free to drop them below. I’ll also be doing deep dives on some of these in the coming weeks!