I feel the pressure building in my head

posted March 19th, 2019 at 7:08 PM

The anger festering, it scares me. Gotta get a grip on this volatility or I swear.... I’ll hit the gym, that always helps.

6 Comments

Don't

Mar 19, 2019 at 7:43pm

Don't make me angry. You won't like me when I'm angry. ARRGH! *trurns green, and rips shirt open*

Check it out thooo!

Mar 19, 2019 at 8:46pm

You got some strategies figured out. That's purrrdy cool. Better out than in - F*** some s*** up!

Anonymous

Mar 19, 2019 at 10:40pm

Anger is a normal feeling when appropriate, but not when it festers or becomes our daily Modus Operandus. My therapist said that unless we're in a situation that calls for anger, anger is a secondary emotion anyway. Anger feels so potent that it feels like a primary emotion, but it's not. We actually feel something right before anger but we often default to anger in a millisecond to avoid feeling that first feeling. Further, we can't have that first feeling just before anger without there being a thought first. Anger then, is step 3 of a 3 step cascade.

Go to the gym for sure since you know that supports you, but you may also wish to try tracing the path backwards. Just as your mood turns, try catching that first feeling and/or the thought that started the whole cascade in the first place. Write it out. Ask yourself plenty of questions "what conversation was just going on in my head?" Were those thoughts about a real thing or some imagined scenario? Was I even present or was I thinking of the past, present, future? That'll give you more clues as to how you might be able to get a hold of anger in order to get on top of it quicker, and what you can say to yourself in order to feel more balanced.

My therapist said to be my own detective and start connecting the dots. I've realized that anger can actually be a good thing because it signals to me that I have missed, ignored or glossed over the first feeling and the thoughts that sponsored it all. Essentially, if anger has got you down the rabbit hole, trace your way back through the warren to the opening of the whole.