Resources

Over the last couple of months, we here at shakeoffstress have been hard at work, creating blog posts that adress topics that may be causing you stress and techniques to alleviate stress. This blog post is meant to be a place to find all of the resources previously mentioned, as well as any extra resources we thought would be important to include. Let's dive in!

First things first- this blog post will be split into the following six categories: school, sports and exercise, meditation, sleep, screen-time, and general resources. We'll begin with school, which was covered in our June blog posts.

SCHOOL

Google Calendar

Google Calendar is an easy and convenient way to organize homework, upcoming events, extracurriculars, and more. You can begin building your Google Calendar here.

Start adding items to your calendar using the create button in the top left corner. There are two options: task and event. You may choose to designate homework as a task, and your best friend's birthday party as an event. You can set the time of the event/due dates, as well as reminders, to make sure that you never miss an obligation. The effectiveness of these notifications is magnified by the Google Calendar app, which you can download on your phone, so that you will almost always have access to your calendar.

You also have the ability to create multiple calendars, for example, if you want to split your school and work schedule, that are color-coded to avoid confusion. These calendars can also be shared with other people who have Google accounts. I love this feature! I began using Google Calendar when I wanted a way to inform student photographers of upcoming photography events. I was able to do so just by sharing my calendar with them.

Notion

Okay, so maybe you tried Google Calendar, and realized that it wasn't your favorite organization method. That's where Notion comes into play. Although it may seem difficult to navigate at first, with a little bit of time [and some Youtube tutorials], you'll discover how customizable Notion can be and all of the different features it boasts. You can find Notion here.

My favorite feature of Notion is the assignment calendar- I use it to keep track of all of my assignments, and to check them off when I complete them. One of my friends uses Notion to track the books she reads, as well as to store her notes from her classes. That's what most people love about Notion: how you can customize it to your life and needs.

However, as I mentioned earlier, it does take some time to get used to. I use a template you can find here, as it is specifically made for students. I just changed the schedule to reflect my classes and deleted some features I found unnecessary. If you don't like this template, you can find many others by searching up "Notion templates" on Google.

Eggzy

This app may have a funny name, but it is a seriously great way to eliminate distractions. The app is free to download on the app store, and features a series of cute animal characters that you can unlock. Simply pick a character you wish to unlock, set an amount of time to focus for, and turn over your phone. If you manage to avoid picking up your phone for the set amount of time, you will unlock the character!

There are a variety of different characters you can choose from, and some of them are only unlocked if you study for a certain amount of time. I find that this motivates me to continue using the app! You can find its webpage here.

Focus Keeper

Focus Keeper is a simple, but effective productivity app based on the Pomodoro Method. This method aims to maximize productivity by encouraging individuals to study in 25 minute intervals, with five minute breaks in between study sessions. Focus Keeper automatically sets the study session timer and break timers for you. Best of all, you can customize the amount of time that study sessions/breaks last.

I find that this app is helpful when I have a lot of different assignments to complete and I am feeling overwhelmed. I dedicate 25 minutes to one assignment, take a short brain break, and then switch to another assignment for 25 minutes. Also, on occasion I use the

goal-setting feature. That way, I am reminded of how many study sessions I wanted to complete at the beginning of the day when I feel like giving up later. This app is also free, and you can see a more detailed description of it here.

Ambient Noise

I used to swear by listening to music while doing homework. I felt like I was more productive when listening to my favorite Taylor Swift album or singing along to Ed Sheeran. However, as my assignments got more difficult, I found that music was affecting my concentration. I wanted something to listen to while doing work, but music wasn't cutting it. I found ambient noise.

Ambient noise is produced to transport listeners to different places. For example, there are a series of ambient noise videos meant to make you feel like you're in a cafe. These cafe videos may consist of sounds of people talking, silverware clinking, milk steaming, and typical cafe music. There are tons of different ambient noise videos: beach houses, the Hogwarts library while it's raining, NYC at night, etc. You can find a playlist of my favorites by clicking here. I also recommend the following Youtube channels: Virtuscapes and Autumn Cozy.

SPORTS AND EXERCISE

Madfit

Madfit is one of my favorite Youtubers when it comes to quick, fun, and satisfying workouts. She's gone viral a number of times for her dance workout videos, in which she choreographs exercises to popular songs. When I first started exercising on a regular basis, her videos were my go-to's when I was feeling unmotivated. The combination of good music and low-impact exercise that makes you break a sweat is hard to beat.

In addition, Madfit has a variety of other videos dedicated to different types of exercise. Her workout videos with weights are great, as she talks you through every exercise and makes sure to educate you about the correct form. Finally, if that wasn't enough, she has a whole playlist of videos dedicated to warming up, cooling down, and recovery stretching. If you read our exercise blog posts, you know all about the importance of a good warm-up and cool down. Her channel can be found here.

POPSUGAR Fitness

I used to love POPSUGAR videos growing up. Therefore, when I found out that they had a fitness channel, I had to check it out. POPSUGAR is another favorite for fun, but satsifying workouts. They often bring in personal trainers or well-known fitness influencers on Youtube to do guest workouts, allowing you access to workouts that are usually behind a paywall or that you only have limited access to without a subscription. This channel is filled with hundreds of videos, so it's almost impossible to run out of challenging and fun workouts.

This channel was actually how I first started incoroporating weights into my workouts. They have some great 30 minute workouts with dumbbells that are just the right length of time to feel like you've gotten a great workout in, without killing you. In addition, they have pretty good music, which makes their workouts go by faster. You can find their channel here.

Caroline Girvan

Oof. Caroline Girvan workouts are hard. I turn to her channel when I feel like taking on a challenge, or on the days that I have more motivation/energy. Her workouts are mainly weight-based, which can be a challenge if you don't have the right equipment, however, she does also have a couple of bodyweight, HIIT-based workouts.

One of my favorite things about this channel is the multiple workout challenges Caroline has posted. They all last for 10 weeks, with five videos per week. However, because they're recorded, you can spread the workouts out, do them more often, or skip around in the program. They're also a great way to start a fitness journey, as you know you'll have a workout waiting for you when you feel like working out. My personal favorite is Epic III. Caroline's videos also feature an intro where she talks you through the more-difficult exercises and things to keep in mind with form, as well as a warmup and cooldown.

You can find her channel and workout challenges here.

Move With Nicole

Move With Nicole is a great channel for lighter workouts that make you feel great. She focuses on yoga, pilates, and barre, and her workouts usually last for around 30 minutes. They feature relaxing music, her doing the workout with you [sometimes on a beach!], and her talking you through the exercises with notes about correct form.

I love this channel because the workouts are satisfying and can definitely work up a sweat, but aren't hard on your body. I typically look to these workouts on an active recovery day or when my muscles are feeling sore. You can check out Nicole's videos for yourself here.

SLEEP

Fitbit

This section will be short and sweet, because I thankfully rarely struggle to fall asleep. However, I've found that my Fitbit is a great tool to ensure that I am getting enough sleep and to determine the quality of my sleep. I have the Fitbit Inspire 2, which you can find here. It's their most basic model, but I find it works best for my lifestyle because it has the features I want and I don't have to worry about it when exercising [especially swimming- the Inspire 2 is completely waterproof!]. Some of these features include a step tracker, clock, heart rate monitor, timers/stopwatches, and an exercise tracker. My Fitbit also syncs to my phone so that I can read any messages I receive, even if my phone isn't close by.

Fitbit also has an app, which you can use to check your steps, heart rate, exercise, and most importantly: sleep! Fitbit has detailed sleep data, showing you how long you slept for, what time you went to bed/woke up, when you're in REM, light, and deep sleep, as well as any times you may have woken up during the night. I almost love this feature more than the step tracking feature Fitbit is known for, because it helps me determine if I need to go to bed earlier or why I've been feeling so sluggish.

If that wasn't enough, Fitbit also rates your sleep on a scale of 0-100, based on the stages of sleep and how long you spent in them, as well as how long you spent asleep in total. This doesn't really contribute to you getting better sleep, but I find it interesting, and it's one of the only Fitbit statistics that I check regularly. If you're looking to make an investment in your health, I would definitely check out the Fitbit website here! They have more sophisticated trackers that are similar to smart watches, as well as more simple ones like the Inspire 2.

Webcams

Don't you wish you could watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle in Paris? Or swim with the dolphins in Hawaii? Webcams are an awesome way to travel to other places, without actually being there. They're usually on 24/7, and you can find them for a wide variety of places.

Okay, so why did I include webcams in the sleep section? I find that watching these live streams is very relaxing, and as they don't have any sound, they're easy to fall asleep to. Some of my favorites are from the Monteray Bay Aquarium in California. They have one in their sea otter exhibit, and one of Monteray Bay. You can find those webcams here. If you find aquarium scenes relaxing, you may also want to check out these other Webcams from the Aquarium of the Pacific, also in California.

Finally, you can watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle using one of the many Paris webcams. If you're in the United States, tune in in the late afternoon, before the clock strikes 3, 4, 5, etc. The Eiffel Tower sparkles on the hour for five minutes every night. You can find these webcams using the following links.

Monteray Bay Aquarium: Click here!

Aquarium of the Pacific: Click here!

Eiffel Tower: Click here!

MEDITATION

Goodful

Meditation has become one of my favorite way to unwind and decompress. Although it's become more popular over the last couple of years with trendy and convenient apps such as Headspace, you may feel lost when you realize that most (if not all) of the content on these apps is behind a paywall. Goodful is a Youtube channel that has some great, free, and high-quality guided meditation videos. I find that having a voice to guide me through meditation sessions helps me to focus and be more present in the moment, as compared to when I just listen to calming music and try to meditate on my own.

In addition, I like Goodful meditation videos because they're short, ranging from five to fifteen minutes. They're also focused on specific topics, such as self-love or anger. You can find a whole playlist of Goodful meditations here.

Great Meditation

If you run out of Goodful meditation videos, a great next step would be to explore the Great Meditation Youtube channel. They upload multiple times a week, and as the title indicates, the whole channel is dedicated to meditation, ensuring that you never run out of content. In addition, they have a whole playlist of short, five-minute meditation videos so that you have meditation options for busier days, as well as longer 20 minute meditation videos if you have more time to spare.

A final thing I love about Great Meditation (if you're not already persuaded to check them out) is that you can choose the gender of the voice that you would like to guide your meditation. This is a small detail, but I think it ensures that Great Meditation's videos cater to all audiences. You can find the Great Meditation channel here.

YOGA

Yoga With Adriene

I adore Yoga with Adriene. She's actually the reason that I decided to make stress alleviation the focus of my Gold Award. During the pandemic, I found that doing her "Home" 30 day yoga challenge brought me peace and comfort. When I had completed all 30 days of yoga, I wanted more, and I was so happy to discover that Adriene plans out a yoga schedule every month with videos from her channel. Doing her videos has changed my mindset when met with challenges, and I often hear her advice when I'm unsure about how to handle certain situations. My flexibility has improved, and I've gained a way to alleviate stress and stay active.

I genuinely could not say anything bad about Yoga with Adriene if I tried. Trust me, when you hear her relaxing voice, great advice, and goofy rambles, you'll be hooked. You can find her channel here, and her 30 day yoga challenge for 2022 here.

Yoga With Bird

Yoga With Bird is another one of my yoga favorites. Her videos are a lot shorter, but she uploads more frequently. I usually turn to her when I want a quick yoga sesh in the morning, and I've started doing her five minute yoga sessions when I wake up instead of scrolling through my phone. Although her yoga videos are short, they're effective, and she makes the most out of the time that she has. Her voice and set-up are also super relaxing, and she's great at guiding you through the practice.

She also has a couple of affirmation videos, which I haven't explored, but you may be interested in. You can check her channel out here. Make sure that you look at her playlists- she organizes her classes by length, so you can pick a practice that fits the amount of time you have.

JOURNALING

lifestylewithcath

Journaling is one of my go-to stress relief techniques. In fact, I made it my New Year's resolution to journal every day in 2022. Although I haven't necessarily achieved this resolution, making an effort to build journaling into my schedule has definitely made a difference in my schedule. Lifestylewithcath may look like an ordinary influencer Instagram account, however, if you scroll through her highlight titled journaling, you'll find a lot of great journal prompts.

Journaling can be hard to get into at first- maybe you don't know what to write about, or perhaps you have a hard time finding the motivation to write consistently. Prompts make this task a little easier, by giving you a set of predetermined topics to write about. Cath gives you five questiosn to answer, that range from discussing family, to your personal goals, to self love. She does have a limited number of prompts, because she hasn't been as active since quarantine, but I think her prompts are a great starting point for journaling.

You can find Cath's instagram here. She has some other great highlights dedicated to wellness on her Instagram page that you may want to check out as well!

Allana Blumberg

Allana Blumberg is another great Instagram account for journaling prompts. I like following accounts like hers, because it gives me a daily reminder to pick up my journal. You can find her prompts also under a highlight titled journaling.

She's active pretty consistently, so you may turn to her account if you run out of prompts from lifestylewithcath. Her other highlights are also great inspiration to build wellness into your life! You can find her Instagram here.

Day One

Not really into pen and paper journaling? Luckily for you, there are a ton of great, free journaling apps out there. One of my favorites is Day One. I used it at the beginning of quarantine, when I wanted to have an easy and convenient way to write down my experiences. You can attach photos to your journal entries, and the app also automatically documents your location [if you want it to!] and the weather. It's easy to use, and makes journaling something you can do anywhere. You can find the Day One app here.

HEALTHY HABITS

Plant Nanny

Every influencer I follow stresses the importance of drinking water on a regular basis. But do I do it? No. Until… Plant Nanny! In the app, you get a plant to take care of, that you water whenever you drink water. As you water your plants more and more, they grow, and eventually they reach their final form. After that, you get to choose a new plant.

This app may sound silly, but it has seriously helped me to increase my water intake. Until I started to water my plants just so that I could get new ones. But, if you actually use the app as it’s meant to be used, I feel like it could be a great way to build this healthy habit. You can find Plant Nanny here.

DBTC

DBTC is an app that is based solely on helping you to build habits. It’s very simple, but also very effective. The main screen of the app is a calendar, and every day that you do something you want to make a habit, you place an x over that day. DBTC stands for don’t break the chain, as your goal is to build a chain of x's that represent all of the days that you’ve dedicated to building your habit of choice.

Although this app only allows you to build one habit at a time, you can pay to track multiple habits. However, I find that the free version of this app is effective enough for my needs. You can find DBTC here.

Wordle

Wordle is a website that has become immensely popular in the last few months. If you haven’t already heard of Wordle, it’s a fun word game that you can only do once a day. The word that you’re trying to find is the same for everyone, which makes it fun, because you can compare how long it takes for you to get the word with your friends/family.

You may wonder what Wordle has to do with stress relief, but I’ve found that it’s a productive way to take my mind off things that may be worrying me. By concentrating on a simple task, I get a chance to clear my thoughts, and I’m also left with a sense of accomplishment. I’ve also found that it’s a great way to keep in touch with my friends on a daily basis, because we send our scores back and forth.

Don’t knock it ‘till you try it! And you may want to try it soon, because it was bought by the New York Times, which tends to put its content behind a paywall. Wordle is addicting. You can find it here.

New York Times

Speaking of the New York Times… they have a great, free newsletter called The Morning. If you’ve been looking to learn more about current events, and stay up to date on the crazy world that we are living in, this newsletter is a great way to do so. They have a main story that they cover, that lately has been based on either COVID-19 or the situation in Ukraine. After that, they have little tidbits about recipes, games, pop culture, and other interesting topics.

I love this newsletter. It’s just enough news to keep you up to date, and you can read it in around ten minutes. It’s in your inbox at 5:30 CST every weekday or you can read it online. You can sign up for The Morning here. I also love the New York Times app, for the notifications they have for breaking news. Although you can't actually read the articles the notifications alert you about, unless you have a subscription, they tell you about the breaking news so that you can go look it up if you're interested. You can find the New York Times app here.

SCREEN TIME

Pinterest

Pinterest is the best kind of social media app there is. It’s a hub of pretty photos, creative ideas, and thousands of boards filled with pins related to a certain theme. Whenever I get the urge to do some scrolling, I try to turn to this app. Looking through all of the pins gives my brain a much-needed break, and I also love building pinterest boards. For example, I create a new mood/vision board every month, and I also have boards dedicated to interior design, writing, photography, travel, and a bunch of other topics.

The best thing about Pinterest is the impersonal aspect. Everyone on the app is either posting or reposting photos, and there really isn’t much interaction between users. That way, you avoid influencers dominating the app, or feeling the need to post and use the app often. You can make your Pinterest account here.

Apple/Instagram Tools

Apple and Instagram have a variety of tools aimed at helping you to reduce your screen time. Apple has a whole “screen time” feature, that tracks how often you pick up your phone, how many notifications you get, and how long you spend on your phone/on certain apps. Checking this feature every once in a while may help you to determine how to reduce your screen time. I deleted TikTok after seeing that I had spent over five hours on it one day- yikes! The Apple “screen time” feature also allows you to set time limits on certain apps. This limits are easy to override (which is usually what I end up doing), but they’re a good reminder of how much time you’ve been spending on a certain app, and they help you to avoid endless scrolling.

Instagram’s tools are similar- you can view how much time you spend on the app daily in a section of “settings.” You can also set reminders to take a break after spending a certain amount of time on the app. These tools are a great way to try to minimize screen time.

Offloading Apps

Offloading apps may be a feature unique to Apple devices, but it’s helpful nonetheless. It essentially makes it so that you can’t open certain apps, without deleting them. I really only use it when I want to take a TikTok break, because it makes the app off-limits, but I can also redownload it any time and still have all of my drafts. Haha! Even if it is only useful when it comes to TikTok, the majority of my screen time is dedicated to TikTok, so it works great for me.

Do Not Disturb

Notifications were made to be distracting. They’re great when you get an urgent text from your mom, or a reminder about an assignment due soon, but they’re not so great when you’re trying to focus. I believe every device has a form of Do Not Disturb. I prefer DND to turning my ringer on silent because it truly does make your phone silent, instead of making it vibrate, which I still find distracting. I turn it on whenever I’m doing homework, or even out with friends, so that I’m not tempted to pick up my phone every time it buzzes. I also find that without notifications, I kind of forget about my phone. If it isn't trying to get my attention, I don’t pay any attention to it.

Screen Time Widget

Widgets may also be a feature unique to Apple devices. Sorry!! Widgets can be used to make your phone aesthetically pleasing and beautiful, while at the same time helping you to reduce your screen time. One of the widgets that Apple offers is dedicated to screen time. It tells you how much time you’ve spent on your phone that day, as well as the apps you’ve spent the most time on and how long you’ve spent on those apps. I keep it on the second page of my home screen, so that I have to see it at least once a day. It’s just a good reminder of how long I’ve been on my phone, and it helps me to determine when it’s time to take a technology break.

Screen Time Resources for all Other Devices

To all of the Samsung, Android, Google, and phones other than Apple users out there, I wanted to make up for the focus on Apple throughout this part of the blog post. So, I scoured the internet and found the following websites that explain how to use screen time features on different devices.

Android: Check Screen Time, Limit Screen Time

Samsung: Check Screen Time

Google Pixel: Check/Manage Screen Time

And that’s all she wrote. This blog post is the last installment of the (somewhat consistent) monthly blog posts. I, Melissa Hamada, the founder of shakeoffstress, cannot thank you, the reader, enough for all of your support and contributions to this project. It would not have been possible without you! When I started to create shakeoffstress, which was two years ago now, I was overwhelmed by the amount of work I had to do and worried about how this project would be perceived. Y’all made it easy (well, kind of- it was still a ton of work), because I was motivated by the knowledge that people were actually interacting with the content I made and that there were people supporting shakeoffstress from the very beginning.

Alright, I’m going to hop off my soapbox now, but truly, thank you to all of y’all for everything. This is the end of shakeoffstress for now, but hopefully we will return at some point in the future! I truly hope that this website and our Instagram page have helped you to SHAKE OFF STRESS!

Comments? Questions? Leave them down below!!