“Fall shows us how beautiful it is to let things go.”

I love this quote. Letting go is something I’ve always had difficulty with. I often think over past situations and run “what if” scenarios. I ruminate over old memories or disappointments and all those bad feelings rush over me. Sometimes it helps me learn and reflect, but often it just brings me into a negative space.

It might be my anxiety, but I’ve always found it hard to escape my thoughts. If something pops into my head I can’t help but tug at it and see where it goes. In the past, my trick was to drown it out with any kind of distraction – make myself super busy, blast music, never let my hands be still or the house be quiet. But that only works for so long.

Some friends suggested meditation. When I first tried it, I thought it was brutal and I told myself it wasn’t for me. I hated the quiet, and I couldn’t even make it five minutes without wanting to check my phone. Maybe that should have told me how much I needed it!

The past few months my anxiety was getting worse, and I decided to try it out again. There are a lot of meditation apps, so I did free trials of a few. Having a guide really helps, and there are a lot of was to customize the experience though each app. The option to add background music or nature sounds made a huge difference for me.

My two favorite apps are Simple Habit and Calm. I found Simple Habit the most convenient, and Calm the most helpful for my type of anxiety.

Simple Habit has a lot of categories and the ability to pick the length of each session. There’s even an “on the go” section where you can click how much time you have, and what’s going on (ie. “Feeling frustrated,” “can’t sleep,” etc.) For the most part it’s very user-friendly, and I appreciate that it doesn’t stress a certain way to sit or breathe during meditation.Calm is the app I decided to buy a subscription for. The meditations give a lot of guidance and teach strategies for dealing with different issues. Instead of just a few minutes of peace, I found myself feeling better and using the strategies I learned throughout the day.

Another selling point for me was the Sleep Stories. They have a huge library of narrated stories to help you drift off. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I have such hard time turning my brain off. These stories work magic! 

The best thing I’m learning through meditation is how to deal with anxious thoughts. Normally a thought would pop in my head and I would pull at it, argue with it, and think over every possible scenario surrounding it. Now I’m learning to notice these thoughts, and let them pass on their way.

I’m seeing so much progress already, and I’m hoping with more practice I’ll learn to let things go easier. If you have experience with meditation or recommendations for apps, I’d love to hear!

xoxo

This post was not sponsored. I just wanted to share something that’s genuinely helping me.