Let’s be honest. In this day and age, social media can be mentally and emotionally draining. So much is happening around us and it’s so hard to keep abreast of it all, on top of trying to have a life.

For instance, last week was hard for me, and all Kenyan women in general, because of misogynistic remarks and victim-blaming over gender-based violence on the interwebs.

A few minutes on my Twitter feed kept getting me riled up and so emotional that I had to keep taking breaks for the sake of my mental health.

Pandemic fatigue is also a thing. Having shifted our lives indoors, we spend most of our days online: on Zoom meetings and catching up with family and friends on video calls. It gets overwhelming. And we all need an out.

Luckily, several apps can give you that in these times of heightened anxiety and stress, and help make a real improvement to your mental health and wellbeing.

Whether you want to try meditation to help reset a troubled mind, need help sleeping, or require the tools to try mindfulness, Calm can help. You can also tap into audio programs taught by some of the world's best mindfulness experts while enjoying some of the most relaxing music and imagery.

The Headspace app teaches you how to meditate and live mindfully, with guided sessions on stress management, happiness, resilience, physical health, and more. Even if you've never meditated before, the free Basics course teaches you the essentials.

Affirmations are life-changing. They help you become more self-aware, take charge of your thoughts and make you feel more optimistic and happier with a clearer perspective on what you want in life. The ‘I Am’ app sends you local push notifications in the form of these positive messages throughout the day to encourage positive thinking.

The Eternal Sunshine app is filled with positive energy, positive vibes, and lovely speeches. It offers daily inspiration, mantra notifications, meditation exercises, and inspiration podcasts. Each day you’ll get one to two notifications about life.

Whenever you want to focus, plant a tree on Forest. The tree will grow in the following time. Keep building your forest every day, every single tree represents your focused time.

For your fitness and wellness journey, the Nike Training App is an app for the deliverance of workouts and personalized adaptive training plans for a variety of physical activity levels. It has full and efficient functionality after downloading the selected video workouts through the app, which then can be used without an ongoing data connection.

Insight Timer is a meditation app that makes the practice of meditation accessible to everyone- from total beginners to Zen masters. It’s a cool and crafty app with a clear goal — to help all who are interested learn how to meditate and create the serene and peaceful experiences that are right for them.

It is the first emotional wellness app that is for Black, Indigenous, Women of Color (BIWOC) and by BIWOC. The app offers coaching talks, meditation tips, affirmations and guided visualizations as well as breathing exercises. The app inspires self care and mindfulness with all the above mentioned offers.