Oh Look, An Update!
Let’s see if I actually finish and post this one…I start so many posts, even write a lot of words, but then something happens and I just never finish, so they don’t get posted. Then when I come back to WordPress and see the drafts, realize I’ve lost my train of thought on all of them and just end up deleting them. I’ve deleted at least 35 posts like that in 2025. In 2026, I hope to do better.
In 2026, I hope to do better with a lot of things because, while it was still a pretty good year, I feel like I really slipped in the last half of 2025.
My anxiety is back but I still haven’t taken clonazepam. It’s not because I don’t need it, a lot of this anxiety would go away if I took it, but I’m pretty sure in the past it literally made me numb-er and dumber, so I refuse. I was taking 2 per day + 3 at a time just to get through a work meeting when I was married, which was no bueno. I refuse to go back to that, and instead, I sit with the anxiety and just hope it goes away eventually.
I started using a new productivity app called Finch, that’s sort of a cross between Animal Crossing Pocket Camp (RIP *makes sign of the cross*) and Habitica (which is still somehow limping along in all its 2016 lameness), in that it gamifies to-do lists and self-care in a cute way. My friend Steph (the Geek), told me about it a week ago and so far I really like it!
The object of the app is to grow your little character (a bird, a finch) physically and emotionally, and to earn gems to buy clothing, furniture, and customizations to make your finch snazzy and decorate your birdhouse. This is my finch and birdhouse so you can see the graphics style. Cute right? She has an insulin pump on her wing and you can even choose your finch’s pronouns!
Finch isn’t just a gamified to-do list, it has self-care built-in as the core component, suggesting helpful and mindful goals and activities that actually seem to help me be calmer and do better at taking care of myself physically, as well as my mental health.
It has guided reflections with writing prompts for various times of day and purposes, such as practicing gratitude, filling out a dream diary, thinking about your childhood, eating mindfully, savouring pleasant moments and a bunch more!
It has quizzes you can take to use as mental health benchmarks, developed from actual questionnaires mental health professionals use to chart patients’ moods.
It has breathing exercises for various purposes, such as feeling calmer, being more focused, being more energized, or for just waking up that may actually not be bullshit! And you can do them for as little or as much time as you need or want to, gaining more energy/gems the longer you do! Shockingly, I find even 1 minute of “Navy seal focus breathing” to be incredibly helpful! Until this app, I thought the idea of breathing exercises was pretty hokey, but it’s different when they’re guided by an impartial app, you’re by yourself, and you only have to do it for 1 minute.
The app also has a whole whack of guided physical movements, stretches, yoga and exercises that are more low effort than actually working out, but still beneficial for things like waking up/winding down, managing physical anxiety symptoms, or just improving your circulation and stiffness after sitting in front of a computer for a long time. I find even 1 minute of guided standing stretches a few times a day extremely helpful for easing tension in my neck and back from sitting in front of a computer being anxious for 18 hours a day! I’ve added those as twice daily goals on my to-do list and I’m thinking of adding some guided standing or chair yoga to my day as well! I draw the line at actually exercising though!
Probably what I’ve found the most useful, aside from the to-do list itself, is that Finch has a “First Aid Kit” button, which brings up a menu of exercises helpful during times of anxiety or distress. These activities range from simply naming, examining and documenting your emotion for later insights, to guided breathing and grounding exercises for when you’re panicking, to taking deep dives into managing your triggers and practicing self-compassion. For a cute, innocent, little app, it does a lot of heavy lifting!
There’s also a social component to Finch that I think is pretty rudimentary but probably safer and sufficient for the overall casual, calm, low-pressure vibe of the app.
There’s a friends list where you can add people you know, or be matched with random people in the Finch community.
You can share individual goals with individual friends so they can encourage you and send kudos for completing them. You can also send “good vibes” which are pre-scripted messages from you & your finch to you & your friend and their finch ranging in actions from high fives, hugs, gratitude, comfort, virtual flowers, to remaining calm, reminding them to drink water or stretch, or just a simple hello, good morning, or sweet dreams. You can also send your friends “loves” for their finch’s outfits and how they decorated their birdhouses!
Overall I’m pretty impressed with it and can see myself sticking with it for a long time, as long as they keep pumping out ways to progress and things to collect! This is one of the ways I’m trying to do better in 2026!
If any or all of the above descriptions and screenshots from Finch sound intriguing to you, feel free to sign up using one of my links below so you also get a free micropet, which is a little companion pet that follows your finch around on adventures and also grows with you! Choose a pet below:
Aurora the Arctic Fox
Blizzard the Wizard Polar Bear
Talon the Gryphon
Oatmeal the Llama
Boopty the Spoopty (ghost)
Pinecone the Hedgehog
ENJOY!
Lemme know how you like it!
justicefortommyross@mail.com
