Finch is the Cozy App I Needed to Develop Good Habits
How I track habits and get good vibes at the same time
If you struggle with taking care of yourself, the Finch app might be just what you need. It gives a vibes of the 1980s trend of the Tamagotchi but with a focus on taking care of yourself.
Your new self-care best friend. Daily self-care is finally fun — take care of yourself by taking care of your pet!
For some people, self-care comes naturally. They get up every day, brush their teeth, have a shower, maybe even work out. The go about their day doing the things that are good for them like it is natural. And it is for them.
But for those of us with mental health issues or others who depend on us for care or who are just struggling with life in general, those things don’t come easy. Not at all.
I have ADHD and for all of my life thought I was just lazy until I found out in my late 40s there was an actual reason for it. Of course, by that time I had a load of bad habits that seemed impossible to break.
Not impossible though — just challenging.
I’ve found lots of different ways to manage self-care. None of them seemed to work great for me though. Sure, for a couple weeks or a month at a time, I’d do ok. But then, I’d fall back into the bad habit and everything would slide backwards.
There’s a myth that it takes 21 days to form a habit. That always made me feel like crap because after 21 days, I’d rarely developed a habit of anything. It turns out I’m not the only one that couldn’t develop a habit in 21 days!
A hallmark 2009 study on habit creation found that habits developed in a range of 18 to 254 days — Scientific American
Many people use habit tracking to help motivate them to keep up with changing their habits. There’s multiple ways to do this. Some use a simple pen and paper approach. Others buddy up with a friend. And some of us like to use an app on our phones.
There are a lot of different apps you can use but the one that is working for me right now is Finch.
Finch is your cute virtual pet. When you complete habits you help him/her/them grow!
You decide what habits you’re working on but Finch helps you by giving you suggestions of things you can work on. Each time you complete one of your habits, you get rainbow stones. With your stones you can buy clothing for your Finch or items to decorate your finch’s room.
Your finch also goes on adventures each day to interesting places and learns information about them. As the finch learns, they grow in curiosity, security, and other measures.
And, of course, your finch can be friends with other people’s finches. When you become friends, you can send each other good vibes that range from “good morning” or “good night” to giving hugs, dancing, and sending reminders to drink water.
On top of all this you can reflect on your life using either a suggested reflection or a free form one. You can practice mindful breathing or listen to calming soundscapes. Set a timer to be productive, practice acts of kindness, or work on being more active.
Finch is all about you and your pet and creating the life you want so how you use it is up to you.
Does this sound like something that would help you develop new habits? Have you tried it?
