Anger- 3 Ways To Deal With It (#203)

How do you deal with anger? Each of us has our own way of handling our emotions, and anger is quite difficult to manage for many.  There are 3 ways to deal with it. Repress, rage, or process it. Two out of the three aren’t healthy for our emotional systems.

My journey from childhood was a good one I believe, but I was never taught on how to manage my emotions. I never understood how each of the responses to anger could affect me and those around me. It was just a different time. We need to connect with our children from newborn and through adolescence about their emotions to give them a good foundation.

Anger- 3 ways to deal with it. Repress, rage, process it.

Repress: to not allow something, especially feelings, to be expressed. (according to Google)

If we hold our emotions inside it could be very unhealthy. We need to be able to let things out in ways that won’t harm us or others around us. Many of us hold things in for years and years. Each situation that we don’t handle properly and do not express gets packed up deep down and at some point, it will come out. 

And that way usually isn’t in a good way. Usually, it’s some kind of emotional meltdown or explosion. Please don’t hold things in. Learn about yourself and how you deal with things. If you have held things in all of your life til this point it very well may be a good idea to get some counselling.

Rage: to act or speak with fury; show or feel violent anger. (according to Google)

Now rage is the opposite of repress. We didn’t hold things in. We didn’t take the time to understand things. We had an emotional explosion. Many times when we do hit that point, our dramatic expression was only a fraction of what was inside. It could be from our past experiences that have just taken a toll on us and that moment we could have snapped. 

Rage is a very extreme response that is an unhealthy build-up of emotions. It could have been a build-up of emotions over time or just an actual reaction in the moment. Either way is not good. Let’s get our emotions in check in better ways. Anger management is a good start. Please seek help.

Process: a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end. (according to Google)

Managing our emotions is a very tricky thing even if we were taught how to handle things. It’s up to us to take some time to handle our emotions. Processing how we feel affords us the opportunity not to react irrationally. In the heat of the moment, we may not always respond the way we should. 

I have learned through the years that it is best to digest things better and give ourselves the time to not give a knee-jerk reaction. Many times we end up saying things we don’t mean or we don’t say them the way we actually feel them. Take the time to process so that you won’t regret things later.

Sometimes though we can’t wait or there is a situation that needs a reaction at that exact moment. Learning to be level-headed over time will help with those situations. You can be less impulsive and more thoughtful about how the response is delivered.

Conclusion

Holding things inside is bad. Raging is bad. Processing is better for our overall mental health and well-being, so try to think about that as you go about your daily life. Pass this goodness on to those who may need a reminder or are clueless! Thank you very kindly in advance!

Question

Are you an impulsive person? Are you one who bottles things up? Tell us in the comments.