Between work demands, family obligations, and the million other priorities that vie for our attention, our stress can quickly spiral out of control. We know exercise, adequate sleep, a healthy diet, social support, and mindfulness practices can all help. But what if we told you that there’s another stress relief hack? One that is—quite literally—at your fingertips? Well, it turns out there is: the Notes app.
Amanda Hilton, MA, a personal growth facilitator and psychology specialist who runs Simply Well, a mental health Instagram account, swears by this approach.
“What makes the Notes app particularly effective is that it’s always within reach,” she says. Most of us already have our phones on hand, meaning we have unfettered access to the Notes app. You can easily use it to journal, jot down to-do lists, manage triggers, and more. Plus, it’s a practical resource for routine purposes like grocery lists and itineraries.
“This familiarity, combined with the ease and convenience, makes [the Notes app] a great option for capturing our thoughts and clearing out mental clutter,” Hilton says.
Ahead, you’ll find all the ways the Notes app can serve as an effective stress relief coping mechanism and how it can boost your well-being, too.
Journaling on the Go
It seems like everyone’s talking about journaling these days, and for good reasons.
Research supports the effectiveness of jotting down our feelings for better mental health. A 2018 study reported that participants exhibited a decrease in mental distress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms after journaling for 15 minutes three days a week over 12 weeks. They also reported greater resilience and overall well-being.
Journaling in our Notes app doesn’t have to be complex or highly structured. Psychotherapist and mental health marketing expert Emily Mendez, MS, EdS, says a stream-of-consciousness process can be immensely helpful for releasing negative thoughts and feelings. This can come in handy when we’re out and about (like running errands or hanging with friends) and putting pen to paper isn’t feasible.
“You don’t have to worry about what you’re writing,” Mendez says. “You simply write down what’s on your mind.”
Hilton adds that this tactic can allow us to let go of emotions before they intensify and worsen our stress. “When we don’t have a healthy outlet for our thoughts and feelings, they tend to metastasize further into overwhelm, resentment, or something else,” she says. “Journaling also helps us identify patterns in our thoughts, which leaves us feeling more grounded and in control.”
Making To-Do Lists
To-do lists: we either love them or we hate them. But when used intentionally, they can benefit our emotional well-being versus becoming another looming stressor.
“The best to-do lists aren’t ‘catch-all’ lists—use a separate “brain dump” list for that,” Hilton suggests. She reminds us that a healthy to-do list is broken down into bite-sized steps, which allows us to be honest about what we can get done and reflects our top priorities. This helps us “stay organized and clear mental clutter by getting tasks out of [our] head and onto paper,” she adds.
Consider making to-do lists in your Notes app for different areas of your life to avoid feeling overwhelmed. For example, you might have one for work, one for household tasks, one for your personal life, and so on.
Managing Triggers
We’ve all dealt with that nagging colleague, family member, or perhaps a friend who said something that set us off. In the moment, we may feel compelled to react, by texting or speaking from that place of rage.
However, it’s important to pause and collect ourselves before we say or do anything we might later regret. This is where writing down a response in the Notes app (before you say or send something) comes into play.
Yaranil Ferrer, LCSW, PMH-C, founder and CEO of Calma Counseling, says this approach gets our feelings out of our heads and regulates our system, so we can return to conversation less emotionally charged. This helps us “avoid impulsive responses that might contribute to making the problem bigger,” she adds.
“Sometimes it can be cathartic to write out exactly what we’re feeling in the heat of the moment before taking a beat to calm down,” says Hilton. This way, we can go back and refine our response, “so that our words align with how we actually want to communicate and show up in the situation.”
Keeping “To-Look-Into” Lists
We live in a world with endless experiences to try: intriguing books to read, mouth-watering restaurants to try, catchy songs to listen to, etc. And our social media feeds just throw more at us! “There’s so much content out there,” Mendez says. “It can be hard to keep track of it all.”
Try a To-Look-Into List
That’s why Hilton recommends a “to-Look-Into List,” which she describes as “a catalog of anything and everything that sparks your curiosity or interest, [such as] a hobby you want to try, [or] a random topic you overheard your coworkers talking about and want to Google later.” Since our attention is fragmented by the digital world, a list like this can allow us to “reclaim some of [our] own attention and intentionally explore the things that inspire and engage us,” she notes.
Mendez has found this approach helpful in keeping track of TV shows she wants to watch. Coming back to this list, she says, can be a great way to spark joy in our everyday lives (or on an especially rough day when we need a pick-me-up).
Making “Joy Lists”
Gratitude is one of the simplest yet most effective practices for boosting our well-being. According to Ferrer, creating joy can reduce our stress and lower our risk for certain mental health conditions.
Research supporting the health benefits of gratitude has been robust. A 2023 systematic review found a significant positive correlation between gratitude and self-reported measures of life satisfaction. A meta-analysis in “Psychological Bulletin” also found that gratitude is linked to prosociality, or behaviors we engage in to support others, which has its own myriad health benefits.
One way to reap the benefits of gratitude and joy is through “joy lists.” According to Hilton, these lists serve two purposes: they give us “a personalized collection of uplifting moments, which can be a powerful resource to revisit when we need a mood boost or a reminder of all the good in our lives.” They also train our brains to focus on what’s going well in life.
“Because our brains are so adaptable, the more we deliberately focus on the positives, the more our brains start to notice them automatically,” Hilton adds.
In time, engaging in this practice rewires our brain towards optimism, and joy becomes a natural emotion for us.
To start your own joy list, write down all that you’re grateful for in life, from the big things (i.e., family, friends, health) to the little pleasures (i.e., morning coffee, a favorite book, kind smiles from strangers). You can even consider making a list at the end of each day, week, or month.
Conclusion
With the Notes app, relief from pressing worries is just a few taps away. Whether we use it to make “joy lists” or journal on the go, we can add it to our mental well-being toolkit.
It’s important to remember that excessive screen time—even when we’re using the Notes app as a stress reliever—can actually worsen our mental health and mess with our sleep. Be mindful of the time you’re spending on your devices, even if it’s time spent on uplifting activities. The Notes app is a great tool, but a good old journal works wonders too.
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