Some mornings a bird appears in front of me and offers me some water. Other days he compliments me on my outfit or offers me a hug. My bird can respond by offering good vibes back and inviting him to adventure with me.
This is Finch, “my self-care best friend,” as the app describes itself.
Throughout the day, my personal Finch, who I oddly named “Tiger,” asks me how I'm feeling or how motivated I am. The app gives me wellness goals to track, rewarding me for brushing my teeth, doing my physical therapy exercises, and taking stretch breaks.
Normally, I don’t like most phone apps, and the ones in the wellness space have always disappointed me. So, what makes this one worth talking about here at Social Seahorse Connections? I’m glad you asked!
Mental health and wellbeing
As we continue with the January theme of launching a new year and discussing this blog’s purpose, it’s important to state the core reason for this blog is to assist in improving the wellbeing of ourselves and our communities by connecting with others, nature, and meaningful activities.
The Finch app is the first one I’ve encountered that does a great job of reminding us to take care of ourselves with everyday care tasks as well as connect with and encourage others on their journeys.
I want to be clear here on the subject of self-care, which is a topic that gets a lot of media attention. Self-care was starting to be defined as getting a pedicure or taking a retreat day from work. Recently though, how self-care is defined and presented has undergone some corrective action. Those most in need of caring
for their mental health have taken exception to an emphasis on engaging in some commercialized indulgence and instead define self-care as more often finding the motivation and energy to literally get out of bed and maintain stable breathing.
The Finch app fulfills the latter definition. It has default goals you can use for taking time for calming breaths, washing your face, drinking water, and yes, literally getting out of bed. You can also add your own goals like eating so many vegetables a day or taking a 5-minute walk.
Finch, the app
The app describes itself as “Your new self-care best friend. Daily self-care is finally fun - take care of your pet by taking care of yourself.”
Now, if you are of an age to have had a Tamagotchi (the original digital pet shaped like a tiny egg), you might feel a little triggered. Many a child was traumatized when their Tamagotchi died under their watch for lack of their attention and care. No such worries with Finch. It’s all encouragement, with lots of opportunities to improve, but never any punishment for not meeting a goal.
For extra fun and engagement, meeting your goals gives your personal birdie the opportunity to be sent on adventures to other countries. When your Finch returns from their daily adventure, they share with you something they’ve encountered, and you have the opportunity to respond. Your responses develop their personality in six areas: confidence, security, curiosity, resilience, logic, and compassion.
What you encourage in him with your answers reflects how you see the world and which of those areas you most value. You are given the opportunity to write a reflection on why you responded the way you have.
Community aspects
The understanding that self-care isn’t just about yourself but also about connecting is a key component that makes this app effective. Wellbeing is about being a little vulnerable with others. It’s about supporting one another.
Simon Sinek has said, “There is an entire section in the bookshop called ‘self-help.’ What we really need is a section called ‘help others.’" The creators of Finch have built in that connection is key to our wellbeing.
The app gently invites you to interact with friends, inviting them to the app by giving their Finch an adorable micro pet like a little white fox or llama as a sign-up gift. It suggests sending good vibes to those you are connected with.
When you invite a fellow Finch to “stay over,” they get to hang out in the home nest with you or travel on your adventure. The visuals are so freaking adorable, you won’t be able to resist taking a screenshot and sending to your fellow Finch friend. (All the images here are ones I took prior to considering writing about the app simply because they are so cute, I wanted to capture them.)
An additional community emphasis is the opportunity to be part of their Guardian project where you fund the plus subscriptions for others. (The standard app is free.) You can also outright gift subscriptions.
Some things that surprised me
I’m generally a responsible person: I return library books on time, shovel my sidewalk when it snows, and follow doctor’s orders. If you had asked me before Finch how well I am keeping up with my physical therapy exercises for my foot issue, I’d report I rarely miss. Tracking on the Finch app though has proven otherwise to me.
Not only that, but I realize just how often I skip my own self-care like getting in even a 5-minute walk in the course of a day.
I also have a more reliable tracking of my mood consistency (or lack thereof) and where it tends to fall.
This is the kind of information one can take action on because it objectively presents a picture of your actual actions and not just your intentions.
I’m also surprised that the values I’m growing in my little Finch are skewed on the sides of five of the six values: Confidence, security, curiosity, resilience, and compassion. My little guy is lacking in logic. I’m not sure yet what this says about me, which is an interesting reflection opportunity.
Maybe it’s because they start as a baby, then grow to be a toddler, then a teen, and finally an adult so my emphasis is more on security and compassion than logic. It’ll be interesting to see if that changes once he’s at the adult stage,
I’m also surprised at how much I’m enjoying sending good vibes to other Finches during the day, often sending a screenshot of our guys hanging out together on an adventure. The visuals are also surprisingly enjoyable. I never played with dolls with tiny outfits or got into creating Sims, but I’m loving picking out new outfits for my Tiger to try and decorating his nest.
Is a Finch in your future?
The app is free on both Apple and Google Play. I encourage you to give it a try and report back here. I’d love to hear about your Finch adventures and any surprising insights you’ve had.
Golden Connection Challenge:
Commit to small daily steps for your wellbeing.
Consider downloading and using the Finch app.
Share this blog with others to increase social value in the new year.
I’d love to hear about your experiences with a comment here or email me using the contact form.
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