I swear this is not sponsored. I just really fucking like this app and I wanted to share it with all who do not yet know about it. If you’ve been reading my work for a little while, you might have heard me talk HERE about an app called CALM. The makers of this rad meditation app (that comes with bedtime stories for adults -which I still can’t get over) created another banger called CALM HARM.
Calm Harm was created to reduce the urge to self-harm. If that is something you are working to overcome, I think it’s worth checking out. However, if you are like me and no longer (or do not) struggle with this this symptom of mental illness, I found many other EPIC uses for it as well. I’ll get into that in a minute.
Using a number of different activities, the app allows you to “ride the wave” of the urge you are experiencing. The goal is to ride it out so that it will pass or lessen. To do so, you can pick from techniques that comfort or distract you, allow you to express yourself, let you release any stress, or help you breathe it out. Each option allows you to perform tasks for either 5 or 15 minutes. I frequently use the ‘distract’ technique, which asks me questions like, “how many singers can you name?” or “count the many things you know that are green.” These tasks aim to take your mind off the urge and in my experience, work like a charm.
Here are some other GREAT uses for the app:
#1 - Use it to drive away persistent negative thoughts. Like at 3:00 am when your brain decides to replay that time you and your friends stood on Josh Hartnett’s lawn in high school and repeatedly screamed his name in hopes he’d come out (and in no way be annoyed with you at all).
#2 - Use it to soothe anxiety or a panic attack. Because workplace culture hasn’t evolved enough to welcome crying at your desk.
#3 - Use it as an anger management tool. This def would have been useful that time I screamed at a meter maid in college for giving me a totally reasonable ticket I definitely deserved.
Those are a few of the ways that I’ve been using it. Let me know if you try it for yourself!