When you get mad, what calms you down? When I get mad different things calm me down. If it is something ridiculous like being cut off in traffic, being treated rudely in public by a stranger or over the phone by a telemarketer, or something being said on TV or radio—I sometimes later holler or complain [not at the offfender]. this burns out my anger and i move on. On the other hand, if I get mad about something done by a friend, co-worker, boss, or relative—that is sometimes another story. Then I (on a bad day) kind of hang on to the ‘mad’ and kind of cultivate it for awhile. This goes on for too long–and finally I gain perspective after wallowing in my mad for awhile. Once I have perspective I can see that staying mad is not good for me and is not changing the other person, either. At that point I move on.
For things like traffic irritation or harassment by telemarketers, I can sometimes do the count to ten gig immediately and avoid getting mad in the first place. I consciously tell myself that the situation is not worth the wear and tear on my psyche of even getting mad in the first place. As a former debate-team girl, I can frequently even sell myself on the concept! That’s what I do about getting mad….what do you thingk about that?
