Feeling angry? 7 tips to deal with it September 23, 2015
Sometimes we get angry. Sometimes we don’t. The important thing about anger is the question how you deal with it and how you express it. If you are not constantly angry, or make the people around you suffer, chances are your anger is in the normal range and nothing too unusual. It is a good idea to deal with the anger face on, express it and then let it go. Here are 7 tips on how to deal with it when you’re feeling angry.
1. Acknowledge it
You can sugarcoat it as much as you want, or claim you never, ever get angry – we all get angry! So acknowledge the feeling and allow yourself to be angry or feel mad about something.
2. Take a moment
Sometimes it can be tough to handle anger. Do not act on your first impulse. Some people count to 10, others to 50 or 100 in ascending or descending order. Calm yourself down a little bit and do not react right away! Delay your reaction a little bit at least.
3. Consider your options
Is this worth a fight? Is it something important? If it is important to you, make sure to talk about it. Do not allow people to treat you badly, but stay in control of your anger and do nothing you will regret later. Maybe consider postponing the conversation until you are not that angry anymore, though. And do not overreact to some annoyance or something that really does not matter when you are honest to yourself.
4. Blow off steam
Go for a walk, run or listen to the right kind of music that helps you clear your head and get over your angry mood. You know what works best for you – do that! You need to let your anger go somewhere, and express it somehow. Sometimes it is also good to vent about your problem or write things down and throw the paper in the trash.
5. Analyze the situation and do something about it
This goes for all possibilities of why you became angry in the first place. Remember to think about the situation and work on the problem. It doesn’t matter if you are the problem, someone else causes your anger or something else makes you angry. Try to find out what you personally can do about it and try to help make things better. Don’t remain passive about the things that make you angry or upset, if there is something you can do to improve the matter.
6. Let it go
Do not hold on to anger, resentments and grudges! You only punish yourself. Let things go and forgive people the everyday screw-ups and let downs. Chances are the things that annoy you in other people are exactly the things you do yourself; or you have your own equivalent set of bad habits that make other people angry with you! Practice forgiveness and try to focus on what goes right in your life. Notice the small acts of kindness and nice things other people say and do. If somebody does something, that’s one thing you cannot control . But you can decide how to act or simply not act on it. And you can decide to not let it affect you to the point that you get angry or infuriated. It is up to you, to learn to manage your anger and not get caught up in your own bad mood.
7. Proactive measures
If you feel like you are more angry than usual, or even angry all of the time, there might be some reason behind it. You should try to find out more about why you are feeling the way you do – what’s behind it? Maybe you have a lot of stress and that is the reason? Whatever it is, you need to take time for yourself to reduce your stress. Get into an exercise routine, meditate, or read. Try something that helps you conquer your high stress levels, before you get really angry in the first place. When you find ways to relax and make time for yourself, it is easier to build up a tolerance towards stress. Overall, the more balanced your life is, the less you will feel affected by disturbances and the less you will get annoyed with events to begin with.
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