16 Soothing Websites To Check Out When You're Feeling Down

Sometimes the world can be overwhelming. It's okay to escape to a little corner of the internet for awhile.

1. The Nicest Place on the Internet

thenicestplaceontheinter.net

It's a website where strangers give you free, virtual hugs. Free hugs! When you're feeling down or lonely, just know there are kind mystery people on the internet who want you to feel a little better.

2. 100,000 Stars

stars.chromeexperiments.com

Sometimes we need to feel in awe, or inspired, or reminded that there is an intense, almost incomprehensible beauty in the world. And sometimes we need to be reminded that we are tiny, and the things we often think are big can be tiny, too. So travel from the sun to the edges of our galaxy taking in thousands and thousands of stars, and hopefully you can find the escape or comfort you're looking for.

3. Casanova

ferryhalim.com

Use your mouse to stretch a giraffe's necks to different lengths so he can give others giraffes kisses as they walk by. That's the whole game — you're an adorable, smooching giraffe marching along to chipper music. As a bonus, the giraffes make cute little kissy sounds.

4. Blah Therapy

blahtherapy.com

If you're feeling lonely and need someone to talk to, a click of a button will connect you to a random online stranger who will lend you their ear. You can choose to be the venter if something is on your mind, or the listener if you just want to be there for someone else. Though the site does offer online counseling services, chatting with a stranger is 100% free.

5. Looking at Something

lookingatsomething.com

It's nice to feel in control of something. Why not the weather? By moving your mouse around the screen, you can shift the weather from blissful sunshine to a dreary drizzle or a raging storm. Curate the weather to shift your mood, or change the weather to something that will make you feel better. The best part is, you can do it with a flick of your mouse — just like a wizard.

6. Weave Silk

weavesilk.com

Swirl your mouse around the screen to weave a web of neon color into an inky black background. It can be as precise or as free as you want it to be. Create jaw-dropping artwork, or just throw your emotions around in front of you. Really, it's up to you.

7. Line 3D

barcinski-jeanjean.com

You control a string and get to manipulate that string in any way you choose. Want to wind it up all neat and tidy? Go for it. Want to tangle it up into an angry little ball? Do that, too. As a heads up, it is a 3D game, so if you're prone to motion sickness or getting dizzy, it might not be for you.

8. Recommend Me a Book

John Boyne/recommendmeabook.com

It can be nice to escape this world and enter a new world entirely. On this site, you can browse the first page of a book at random. There are no titles and no authors listed, so you won't have any preconceptions about the page you read until you scroll to a bottom and click to reveal. If you find a book you like, that's great! If not, enjoy hoping through the multiverse that literature has to offer.

9. Castles Made of Castles

imgur.com / Via reddit.com

You start with a grey block, and from there you can build the multi-tiered, colorful, pixelated castle or your dreams. It's a little hard to figure out how the game works at first, but since there's only one mechanism (clicking on points of an existing block) you can get the hang of it pretty quickly. Plus when you're done, you'll have your own mind palace to escape to!

10. The Thoughts Room

thequietplaceproject.com

When your thoughts are swirling around your brain and you don't know where to put them, the thoughts box can be a nice little resource. As you type away, the words from your brain dissipate into nothingness against a backdrop of soothing music and twinkling stars.

11. This Jiggly Block Game

wxs.ca

Admittedly, it's hard to explain why this one is so fun. You just kind of wiggle blocks up and down and watch how they affect the other blocks on the screen by causing waves and ripples and sometimes just utter chaos. There's no point, really. The blocks just seem so jolly when they bounce up and down that it's hard not to find a little bit of their joy contagious.

12. Music Catch

armorgames.com

This game is...beautiful. To play it, you just have to use your cursor to collect shapes that burst from the side of the screen in time to the music. As the piano track crescendos, the size and speed of the shapes grow with it, making the music feel so alive and tangible. It's lovely and calming, and a nice break from the rest of the world.

13. Love is All

cabbi.bo

"Alone in the darkness, there is light." There is so much emotion packed into this beautifully-animated, single-page site. As you scroll through, you'll watch rays of light burst across the screen as words fall apart and reform, telling a lyrical story of overcoming darkness, fear, and anxiety. It's poetic visually and lyrically, and will hopefully leave you feeling much fuller than when you found it.

14. A Soft Murmer

asoftmurmur.com

Wind, birds, waves, fire — swirl your choices of ambient sounds together to make your very own relaxation mix. Then are ten tracks to choose from, and you control the levels of each one. It's great for background noise as you work, meditate, or seek out that quiet place in your brain when the world gets to be a little too loud.

15. Do Nothing

donothingfor2minutes.com

Finding time to take breaks can be hard, but your body and your brain appreciate them. This site encourages you to do nothing for a full two minutes. No thinking, no browsing, no scrolling — just lean back, relax, listen to the waves of the ocean, and breathe.

16. Destroy Your Computer

stressreliefpig.com

Well, this one is pretty much self explanatory. Sometimes you just have to punch things, and this is a lot less messy than taking it out on the real thing.