A couple of weeks ago I talked about the Calm app and how I use it. I don’t use its full potential as I have the free version and it does what I need it to for now. Another app I use to help me with my anxiety and depression is called Daylio. This one is a journaling app and mood tracker. I’ve been using it every day for a year now and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
What is Daylio and what does it do?
The Daylio app is a mood tracker, first and foremost. There are five levels of moods you can add. I use the “traffic light” color scheme for my moods. So, they’re green, light green, yellow, orange, and red. The green is happy, productive, for example, and the red is angry, anxious, etc. You can give each color more than one mood which I find to be great.
You don’t just track your mood throughout the day though (you can update Daylio as often as you each day but it will “check-in” on you once a day). After inputting a mood along with the date and time you can write a journal entry that can be as short or long as you need it to be. Or, you don’t need to explain your mood at all. I personally like to add what I did during the day and why I feel the way I do. Sometimes I don’t know why I feel the way I do.
There are also “activities” you can add. For example, I have blogging, writing, reading, walking, baking, video games, and so much more. You can group them as well. So, I have an “appointments” group with activities such as a hair, doctor, dentist, grooming for Chip, etc.
It’s a great way to track your day. It’s quick and easy too.
Journaling is a great reliever
I’ve tried journaling so many times. I wrote in a notebook for years that’s still not filled up (though it’s almost filled) and I’ve also tried tracking my mood in a bullet journal. These methods work for so many people but I love the daily reminders from Daylio. I also love to see the progress I’ve made each week, month, and for the year.
Because you can add activities to the moods and your journal entries, you can see which activities tend to make you happier and ones that stress you out the most. You can find patterns and see how you can improve or figure out which things need to change and what don’t.
You learn a lot about yourself
Not only is journaling in some form a good habit to get into – whether you have anxiety, depression, something else, or nothing at all – you can learn a lot about yourself while doing so as well.
One of the things I love about Daylio is that you can also view your entries in a calendar form and they’ll show the different moods you’ve been in on each day.
I’ll admit, I didn’t think I’d stick with Daylio for long. This is, without a doubt, the longest habit I’ve ever been in. At the time of writing this post, I haven’t used the app for quite a year yet, but I began using Daylio in late July 2019.
It was a rough year
I’ve probably said this enough but 2019 was a rough year and 2020 has been worse. Using Daylio to track my days – all the good and all the bad – has been one of the best decisions I’ve made.
If you’ve been struggling with anxiety or depression or anything else, I highly recommend this app. It’s great to track your mood and talk things out with yourself. Plus, the app is encouraging. There was one week where I didn’t have a single green mood and a pop-up appeared and basically said, “we’re sorry you’ve had a rough week but we’re glad you’re here.”
With that said, it’s encouraging and therefore motivates you to keep going. It does help.
