Self Care Claire

Mental Health Journey

I wanted to share my mental journey briefly before I talk about self care. Mental health is not something I bring up lightly. I know that many people think its all in your head or its all frufru. Well, I have had mental health issues since childhood and finally started seeing a therapist in college, on campus at SDSU. My childhood was rough when it comes to abusive parenting from my father. He was a good father in some ways, so I was very attached to him, and even got into music and motorcycles because of him. Once I realized his true nature and started to pull away, he unleashed emotional damage instead of physical. At this point, I do not have any contact with him. I’ll have to write a whole other article about him, but that’s the long story short.

Me and my dad when he visited me in college before I went no contact.

One symptom that this has caused for me is to not be able to take care of myself life a normal adult. For example, brushing your teeth, washing your face, getting dressed, walking the dog, eating breakfast, and leaving on time seems like a pretty simple routine. However it stresses me out every single day. I can’t get through it without stopping to doom scroll because I don’t have it in me to move on to the next step. It is almost like I have to make a huge life decision for every step of getting ready in the morning, like whatever I do will impact me deeply.

First Step

Speaking of doom scrolling, one day I discovered an app while doing that, called Finch. I don’t remember exactly where I saw it. I think it may have been a Facebook ad, which is interesting because I almost never click on ads on social media. I know that once I click it, it’ll start popping up everywhere. For finch, I had heard of it before, but never gave it any second thought. About a month ago, I decided to download it and try out the free trial of the pro version. It was my first step toward really taking control of my self care. I loved it so much that once the free trial ended I still continued to use the app in the same way. I am including a video below (ew that sounded like an email) of a quick exploration of the app. You will see some items that say “unlock” and that is because those are only available in pro. However, there is no difference in usability with the free version.

In the beginning of the video, you see a list of tasks. I have already completed some today so that is not an exhaustive list. I have slowly been customizing that to create a routine for myself throughout the day. It takes some finessing, but it has been a game changer. My favorite thing about it is that each task you do takes care of your finch. Yes, like the bird. You name it, mine is Claire because I like that name, and it has some sentimental significance. You buy it stuff with the diamonds you earn from completing tasks, and you spend them on clothing, furniture, and travel.

My Finch Claire wearing her summer outfit in her house, with her micropet Mimi the Mushy

What sparked my post today was finishing an event in the app. It isn’t super significant, but made me feel proud for completing such a long streak. The way the app is designed, it feels like you are helping someone else instead of yourself. I think that is a common thing among people with mental heath issues- not wanting to do things for yourself but loving helping others. It feels like a distraction from my worries. It links self care goals to goals for Claire, like building up enough energy to go on her daily adventure by completing my morning routine.

Celebrate Together

Thank you for the round of applause! If you think you want to try it out and get that weird satisfaction of taking care of a baby finch, use my link so I can get another micropet! I don’t make money for this, I really just like it and want friends. I don’t know what it’s like to have friends on the app (wow that sounds sad lol), so please try it out even just for me. You have to have an open mind and be willing to spend time. Honestly we deserve to spend time on our mental health and this forces you to do that.

Click on the photo below to get a micropet for yourself. I can only give one pet at a time, so if you click on it and it doesn’t work, someone else probably used it so let me know and I’ll send you a new one. If you don’t care about the micropet, click here and use my code 54GCVB6NM6.

For your own micropet, click this photo and use my friend code 54GCVB6NM6

Thanks for reading my post! I will see you on Finch, on the next blog post, or on my socials. Feel free to drop me a message if you want to talk about anything in the article or get help setting up your finch.