How to Manage Anger Effectively
To cope with anger, you must learn to control your own emotions. Anger is less likely to take over if you're in a mindset where you can carefully think about the situation without being overwhelmed by it.
Learning how to manage your anger will protect you, the people important to you and even yourself- It's not good for anyone when those close to them are constantly exposed to harmful situations.
About Anger
Anger is an important emotion that helps us make decisions or escape dangerous situations. Nonetheless, anger isn’t the appropriate emotion when it doesn't correspond to a real threat.
Anger can be helpful, but it is not the main issue. Try to keep focused on the other person when they are angry and don't take any action until you've cooled down. In most situations, your goal should be to work on learning how to express yourself in a healthier way.
Here are some useful strategies to manage your stress levels:
-
Don't React. Whenever you encounter a stressful problem in the future, make sure you don't react to it recklessly. Take a moment to think about the situation carefully, identify what's causing it and consider how you want to respond before carrying out any action. Think about what's really going on, and then decide how you really feel about everything.
-
Take Cool Down Time. You're not always in the right state of mind to react to things in a measured way. If you're feeling extremely angry, give yourself at least 10 seconds or so before you decide to react. Take a few deep breaths, count to ten...
-
Don't Worry About Others. Sometimes we get caught up in trying to make everyone around us happy and forget about how we feel. It's natural for our emotions to take charge of us, but it's important to remember that it can't go on indefinitely or else you're only really making the whole situation worse.
-
Start Exercising. By practicing a daily workout routine, you can release pent-up energy and stress. If anger builds up, you also have the option of venting with a walk or going out for a game.
-
Don't Hold Grudges. A grudge can eat away at you and only cause problems. Learn to forgive and forget the person, they might even change their behavior. Holding this grudge is preventing you from experiencing peace which is needed when leading a life of joy.
-
Practice Relaxation. Frustration and stress often lead to anger. Learn how getting relaxed can help you stay calm in a variety of situations.
Some of these techniques include:
-
Yoga
-
Meditation
-
Taking a Bath
-
Deep Breathing
-
Listening to Music
-
Journaling
-
Learn Healthy Anger Expression. Managing your anger is not easy and it's understandable that you might not know how to react to the situation. The most important thing is to take some time for yourself beforehand, calm down and consider what you want to communicate in a clear fashion.
Suppressing Your Anger
For some people, it may seem like they've mastered their anger, but in reality, their anger might be "getting bottled up", which can make things worse over time.
Suppressing your anger will just make it build up inside until it comes out in other, less desirable ways. You might find you quickly get stressed or suffer from headaches, or that your blood pressure slowly rises. Suppressing your anger may have long-term consequences. Research has shown that suppressing anger can lead a person to suffer from lifelong problems with depression.
If you've been feeling especially out of control lately, seek help from a health professional.