The Continuum of Anger

Hello and welcome to the not so travelling introvert. Today we’re gonna talk about the different facets of anger. Different facets of anger. So more than one way to, I’m angry, that's all it is. This thing happened and I got really angry.

 

But angry, anger, I should say, is nuanced. There are different things to go through and feelings as far as anger. So how anger grows? Anger and irritation are normal human emotions that we all go through. But it's not something that you need to think about too hard.

 

But you need to learn to understand your anger and what sets it off. Because once you understand this, you can take steps to reduce it and know what to do in certain situations, right? But there's a continuum of anger. Any of us can escalate from irritation to rage as any other human.

 

So let's think about more about what happens. So irritation. Irritation tends to be on an everyday part of life. For example, your car won't start, the WiFi keeps kicking you off. The store is out of your brand of toilet paper again too soon.

 

You're usually a calm person and you're just having a bad day feeling frustrated or agitated. You express your irritation as annoyance, but it's not necessarily meant personally and the situation is forgotten quickly. Then there is mild anger. One of your goals is blocked. For example, say you wanted to go away for the weekend but your child is sick so you have to cancel.

 

Alternatives exist. You can go away next weekend. However, you do feel disappointment and frustration. You remember the experience and the feelings.

 

Then there's intense anger. Your goal is blocked and there is no acceptable alternative. For example, you've been let go from your job. A close family member has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Your level of anger and frustration is very high. It's difficult to express and you become preoccupied with the situation. As you can see, no way out. And then there's a rage. Rage results from frustration and then some a build-up of circumstances. You are consumed by angry feelings. You have no control over the expression of your feelings and you don't respond logically.

 

Violence may occur, either verbal or physical, and you could be a danger to yourself and others.

 

This is a vicious cycle of aggression. You can see the continuum of anger. At each stage, the level of anger rises. So what do you need to do is think about how you deal with anger and aggression and what that looks like in various cycles for you. Is it because of low self-esteem, anxiety, hostility, guilt?

 

It's these things that you need to think about, because you need to acknowledge that emotion. Acknowledge the emotion you are feeling and then have a method for you to deescalate that feeling. Be it you take a walk outside, be it you stop, take a beat and then restart the conversation. It could be that you need to Journal most of the time it's like you need to stop but you need to do this before you get to the rage stage because if you're already at the rage stage, logic is not an option. So just by looking at and knowing these different stages and levels of irritation and anger and rage, think about situations that you have been in previously where you thought these things or experienced these feelings.

 

How did you deal with them? What have you done previously that helped those feelings go away or settle down? And is it something that you can think about and use in the future to make sure that you don't reach the stage of rage. And maybe have a little list of when this happens, I need to do this when X happens, I need to do B when Y happens I need to do Z and B. Knowing yourself and knowing how to deal with these situations will help you moving forward.

 

Hopefully you never get to the stage of rage and it daily irritation is fine but just thinking about how you act and how people might see that is something to take into consideration. Thank you for listening. This is janice@thecareerintrovert.com helping you build your brand and get hired. Have a great rest of your day. Bye.