WHY are you so angry? Are you angry about Job loss, salary cut, your wife/husband, children, or mother-in-law? Maybe it is the nation’s political agenda or the war in Iraq or perhaps the Afghan war. Is it the Taliban? Perhaps you have had to address illnesses or injury of yourself or a loved one. Maybe you have had to declare bankruptcy. Is your favorite sport team in last place?
Whether it is money, issues of life, relationships or personal, (like your plastic surgery did not work the way you intended, ha!).
Whether it is road rage or people yelling at one another in the check out lines. It seems to me anger has heightened this year.
Lately there are a lot of angry people. Yes, there seems to be a lot to be angry about. Well, we cannot solve all the world problems but we can begin small. Let’s begin with learning about anger and it’s relation to stress.
We might ask, how does anger come about? Anger is an excited response and is generated by a real or perceived injury. This perceived event is accompanied by a desire to take vengeance or obtain satisfaction from the offending party.
Let me explain in simple terms my simple story:
As I was going to a doctor’s appointment on Friday, I was running ten minutes late and not traveling the speed limit, (at times). I was anxious that the office might cancel my appointment, (real or perceived injury). After all I had waited for a long time for this appointment and my every day prescriptions were about to expire.
As I came to a red light (it is okay to make a right turn on a red in Fla.) I proceded to do so. Oh, I forgot to mention, when I made this right I pulled out in front of a not so nice young man, who you would have thought would have let this nice older women in.
Needless to say, he did not let me in. I had to stay in the right lane which was a turn lane. “I did not want to turn!” but had to anyway. I then had to make a U turn to come back on the highway to go to my designation.
Well now who was in front of me but the not so nice young man who would not let me in. I took all my vengeance out on him, only in my mind of course, but what I had to say to him was not very nice.
My satisfaction could have come about when he pulled into the same office I was going to. He parked his car, I saw HIM, I knew where his car was! Now, I was 15 minutes late. I seriously thought about flattening his tires. The thought shocked me, since I perceive myself a nice person (maybe not). This would at that time given me great satisfaction. Oh well, I was already late, maybe next time.
To finish off the story, the office let me in anyway. All my rush, anger and vengeance was all for nothing. I must however remember to tell my grandsons who looked something like that young not so nice man, that they should treat older nice ladies in traffic with respect.
Stress causes us to get angry. Being late, hurrying to designation and traffic are all stressors that cause’s us to be stressed and angry.
When looking at anger we must see it as for what it is. It is not the primary emotion. The primary emotions are usually either, fear, hurt or frustration or could be all three. In my case it was frustration of not being somewhere on time and having to pay the consequences. We never like consequences for our behavior.
To sum up this episode, I was fearful of the consequences of a late appointment, I became frustrated with the traffic and then a little hurt that this not so nice young man could possible kill me. I was angry and I allowed my not so nice thoughts to occur, (vengeance).
If I really get to the core, how could I have avoided all this stress?
There is one simple answer. Leave home earlier! This would have avoided all the anger thoughts (which are stressors) the stress of speeding and the fear of retaliation from my doctor’s office.
Stress and anger are closely related. Do you know that stress comes from everywhere and things that we do not consider stressors can cause us stress and increased anger.
Let’s begin to work on Stressors that we take for Granted
• Driving on busy freeways
• Noise from your teenager’s stereo system
• Living near noisy freeways or train lines
• Loneliness
• Complaining neighbors
• Bad lighting at work or home
• Bad time management?
• Always being late for appointments
• Too many deadlines
• Dogs that bark in the night
Can I challenge you to work on at least one of these stressors, this week? Reducing just one stressor will help lower your anger response for a better, healthier longer life?
Closing Thought: James a New Testament writer and brother of Jesus wrote;
Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Your anger can never make things right in God’s sight
If this article was helpful to you please make a comment below so that you may encourage others or email me for answers to your questions.