There’s no limit to the forms that personal growth can take. Several authors, poets and thought leaders have all spun different iterations of the same famous advice, which boils down to a simple phrase: “Be better than you were yesterday.”
For some this means learning a new skill. For others, it might be losing a few pounds, making a new friend, or learning to budget better. No matter the path you’re walking on your own Growing Bolder journey, we can all take advantage of the resources available to make self-improvement easier. Here are a few of our favorite personal growth apps and websites:
Mental Health
When it comes to personal growth, one of the most popular topics in 2022 is focusing on mental health. Headspace is an app designed to help “find more joy, get more goodnights, and make every day happier.” It’s filled with meditation guides, advice on how to sleep better, and strategies to manage stress.
Others have found growth by counting their daily blessings with the Gratitude app. This free option helps the user write a gratitude journal, construct self-affirmations, and build a vision board of their goals.
Physical Fitness
Whether you are looking to lose a few pounds, plan out an exercise routine or want to raise the bar on your own PR, there are lots of physical fitness sites designed specifically for older adults. Balanced is an at-home digital fitness platform that grants access to expert trainers, evidence-based workouts and personalized programs for healthy aging.
Silver Sneakers On-Demand* boasts a digital platform full of videos specifically for adults over the age of 65, with workouts on flexibility, mobility, balance, cardio, and strength.
If you are looking for an approach that includes a biological component, check out Calibrate.* They’ve differentiated themselves by offering prescription medication paired with coaches and work out routines to help ensure long-term weight loss success.
Financial Growth and Budgeting
If you’re looking to grow your money-managing skills, check out Mint. It’s an app that can easily connect to all your accounts, to help manage your balances and keep track of upcoming bills. Their budgeting feature allows you to save money and keep track of your expenses, so you can learn about your spending habits and form a plan for the years ahead.
For those who are weary about connecting their accounts to an app, check out Goodbudget. Instead of tracking past transactions, this app is all about planning ahead. You manually add your account balances, and then assign how much of your monthly income you want to save towards specific spending categories using an “envelope budgeting system.”
Daily learning
The options for online learning resources have rapidly grown since the pandemic. E-Learning sites provide older adults opportunities to learn new skills, earn degrees and turn their spare time into useful knowledge as they continue to broaden their horizons.
The team at Senior Planet have designed courses specifically for those over the age of 60 to learn in five impact areas: social engagement, financial security, health and wellness, civic engagement and advocacy, and creativity. You can also spread your creative wings with the Skillshare app. They offer thousands of classes in graphic design, illustration, photo and video skills, crafts and more!
Travel
Nothing is more eye-opening to personal growth quite like travel. It’s one thing to see another culture while on a vacation, and another to use travel as a chance to leave a mark on the world.
Check out Impact Travel Alliance, a nonprofit aimed at improving the world through travel. They compile guides on immersive experiences that not only enrich your own habits but empower local communities. They encourage users to visit destinations that benefit from tourism and media attention, while sharing stories of protecting the environment, appreciating local wildlife, reducing carbon footprints, and promoting opportunities for volunteering around the globe.
Brush up on the local language of your upcoming destination with Babbel or Duolingo, two apps that help build the basics of speaking and writing a new language with beginner guides, tutorials and quizzes.
*Affiliated with Growing Bolder as a sponsor or sponsor partner
This article is featured in the September 2022 issue of The Growing Bolder Digital Digest.
