A few days ago, I asked my Instagram friends and followers if they would ever try a “Counseling App“ or a “Mental Health App“ if it were available to them, and 95% of the people who responded said “Yes”!
I was so happy to see the results from the mini-survey because I think a year ago, that number would have been a lot lower. Thanks to 2019 and so many people taking a huge initiative to normalize Mental Health, I feel like we have set ourselves up to really BLOOM in 2020. If your 2019 was anything like mine, it felt like I spent the year planting myself where I belong.
I processed a lot of trauma and worked through a ton of crap from my childhood during 2018. It was exhausting but totally worth it. In 2019, I started the year feeling completely weightless and capable of seeing the world without my trauma tinted goggles for the first time ever. It made 2019 super productive for me, and I honestly felt like the world was my very own canvas for me to experience life how it should be experienced.
My resolution for 2020 was literally just to repeat 2019.
Because 2019 was so incredibly productive, I ended the year on a great note. I didn’t need a fresh start or tons of changes. In a sense, I had been planted. I knew where I belonged and stayed there, figured out how to be there and totally embraced it.
So, 2020 is here, and I don’t need to plant myself anymore. 2019 was the year of laying that foundation for myself, so this year, in an effort to not screw it up, I’m going to bloom. I’ve chosen the word AVAILABLE for myself this year, and I’ve prayed it out a ton letting God know that I’m so available for whatever He has for me this year. No hesitations, just simple availability for growth, for expansion, for being useful to His kingdom.
Earlier this month, I was approached by a team of app developers who have created the app that is helping me to bloom where I have been planted, and the app is literally called BLOOM. (Insta: instagra.com/enjoybloom)
They’ve offered me the opportunity to experience their app for the next 3 years and received personalized life-coaching and counseling directly through the app.
I’m only a week into using the app, and I’m already feeling more aware of my feelings and making more conscious choices in terms of how I react to my thoughts. One of my mantras for this year is worry about yourself. Less emphasis on the worry part, and more emphasis on the stay out of other people’s business part. But it’s a choice, like an every day, every hour choice. By choosing to allow myself to become more aware of what I think, feel, and desire, I’m able to also choose how I react to these things (and the world around me).
Here’s how the app works:
- You set up your membership (start with the 7 day free trial).
- Answer some basic questions, nothing too personal.
- Enter a session. The first session is super low key, not intimidating at all. The coach is pre-recorded, but it’s through a video format so that you can really get the vibe of working one on one with a counselor. You type out your answers to the questions they ask, and this gives you a chance to verbalize thoughts that you would normally keep up in your head.
- After each session, you will get a score with feedback on your mood and some assessments into what you’re feeling at the current moment. You don’t have to agree with everything you read, but it does help to enlighten you into what you are putting out. Basically, if you think you’re this super happy go lucky person, but the app is showing that you are really sad and lonely, there might be something there worth exploring.
During my 1 week trial, I had an unexpected setback that I’ve had to work through. Remember how I said that in an effort not to screw up all the work I did last year and in 2018 that I just wanted to repeat the effort and work that I did? Well, part of that involved sticking with the exact same health/fitness regimen that I can up with last year. If you’ve read my blog before, you might know that I’ve dealt with food issues and body image struggles (like most everyone on the planet) for my whole life.
I’ve never really been overweight, but until this year, I had never honestly been purely healthy either. Whether it was starvation diets or using supplements and pills in a manipulated way to keep losing weight, my old habits of health/fitness never resurfaced in 2019. Like WOW, that was a huge victory for me, and it felt so good to end the year know that I was kind to my body all year long. This was accomplished partially due to getting a personal trainer who 1000% understood where I had come from and what I was hoping to accomplish with her assistance.
Welp. When 2020 hit, I just knew we would have another successful year in this area of my life because I had found the trainer, we had an awesome relationship, and honestly, I would just keep doing what I did in 2019. That worked until I found out my trainer was changing jobs.
I’m aware that this isn’t the end of the world and there are literally so many possible solutions to this newfound problem, but ya’ll… within hours, I was spiraling into a mindset of unhealthy thoughts, new restrictive eating plans, and all the pressure of being a size 2 with no body fat was zooming all around me. I felt like 2020 had betrayed me. (dramatic, I know) But, I let myself feel this way, and for 2 days, I just sulked. I was in a bad mood, not super pleasant to be around, and I just kinda gave up on trying to be happy and productive.
I caught feelings hard over this one.
And then, my phone dinged. It was my daily reminder from BLOOM that I had somewhere to process and someone to talk to. I kid you not, I swiped that notification away the first 2 days of processing my loss of a trainer, but the 3rd day, I decided to woman-up and give it a shot.
So, I got back into my app, did another session, and took the responsibility of worrying about myself a little more seriously. Instead of just not worrying about what everyone else is doing, I decided to worry about how I was going to create a new normal that worked the way my 2019 normal had worked.
The wisdom I’ve gained from this week:
- We often go back to an old version of familiarity when our current version is somehow lost. Even if that old version is toxic or unhealthy, it can easily become a source of comfort because it is simply familiar.
- Choosing to skip familiarity and embrace change is an alternate, healthy, and only temporarily inconvenient choice.
My challenge to you:
Try the app. I refuse to promise that it will fix all of your problems or completely remove a need for professional counseling in a physical office. I can’t make that kind of claim. However, if you aren’t in therapy but you kinda want to try it, or you think talking to someone might help, give the app a try. If you just simply want to learn more about yourself and how to have power over inconveniently bad thoughts and feelings, try the app. If you want to set yourself free from irrational behaviors that are directly connected to all the craziness that is floating around in your head, try the app. If you just want a little help with your thoughts and feelings, try it. try it. try it.
If your 2020 goal is anything related to killing it this year or being your best you or stepping into your divine purpose, this app can totally help you get there. It won’t do the work for you, but it will lay the foundation for you to be able to put in the work needed to succeed instead of trying to figure out what the work even is.
Here’s all the deets on how to access the app, and please… if you have any questions, I am here for you. Leave them in the comments or email me at eatpraywife@gmail.com. I got you!!
App Link – https://go.onelink.me/app/lindsayknoxmcvety
Insta – @enjoybloom
EAT PRAY WIFE 