What do you do when you get angry? How do you react?

Question

Mark Twain said, "When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear."

But everyone is different.......how do YOU react to your anger?

Answer 1

It depends on what kind of anger I am feeling. Most of the time, I repress it and it becomes saddness. And then I wallow in it for a bit....and it passes.

Other times, I react in a knee-jerk kind of way. I take my sharpened tongue and say something I later regret....

But lately, I've paid close attention to why I get angry.... see what it is that sparks such emotion. In trying to figure it out, I've noticed it subsides and I am able to think rationally.......handling it gently to avoid waking the "sleeping giant" that hides somewhere at the core.

(Sorry....just a bunch of gibberish. Please don't laugh as I struggle to find the words.....its been hard for me lately. *sigh*)

Answer 2

I get out my chain saw and put on my hockey mask. I have a three mile island melt down. Actually, I am pretty even keeled. I steer clear of being too angry. I swear that I never need to count to four. Mark Twain also said that man is the only animal that blushes, or needs to. When I do feel a twinge of rage I call my anger management consultant and then my parole officer. I have it under control. DO YOU HEAR ME! WELL DO YOU?!!!!! I am mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more! Excuse me, I was a little on edge for a moment, but I am alright now.

Answer 3

I will always try and talk it through with someone; I usd to think that people hated this, but the fact is that some people are incapable of being straight, and it is difficult to develop a good enough relationship to be able to get angry with those sorts.
I rarely shout, when I get extremely angry, I will go VERY quiet and then say somthing VERY nasty.This is a rarity, and hate to do it; its the only time I ever really lose control.
When I was younger I used to brood; I think it was partly cos I'm a scorpio and partly because I was immature. Brooding solves nothing, but at least means that you haven't insulted anybody!

Answer 4

Sky's answer is similar to my own - I have different grades of anger for different focuses. When angry in my day-to-day life, I tend to get quiet and apathetic, and then am able to process the feeling quite quickly, and move on. When angry in a vast, railing, cosmic, political sense, there's no stopping me - I can knock walls down with my focused fury at the betrayal of humanity's potential. I think I need to get up on a stage somewhere, or blog my brains out or something, because I appear incapable to just discuss this sort of thing - people start edging towards the door and looking at their watches :oD

Answer 5

Level 1: Hold it in
Level 2: Run to a corner
Level 3: Run to a corner and cry
Level 4: Run Outside
Level 5: Run Outside and bang/knock the wall
Level 6: Run Outside and hot the wall using a giant stick while singing at the top of my lungs
Level 7: Run to the Restroom and cry
Level 8: Go home and sleep =P

And somewhere in between, grab a sharpie (Magnum) and bother people with its smell

Answer 6

I like Mr. Sky's answer...

My anger is probably best described as 'modal'. Without going into all six, I will just define the modal extremes:

-My mildest reaction of anger is the "ROLL EYES, SHAKE HEAD" mode, and happens most often when my ears come across the ramblings of dolts (this happens a lot when I'm at work, or when I'm logged on to Y!A)...

-My most intense reaction of anger is what I call my "GERMAN BERSERKER" mode. This has only happened twice thus far in my life (almost thrice), and both times it has gotten me out of some deep sh1t.

I try not to get too angry, anymore. I'm too old, and it takes too much energy to be angry... :-))

"Mr. McGee, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. "
-Dr. David Banner, The Incredible Hulk (TV series, 1978)

Answer 7

I really wish Mr. Enzyme wouldn't have mentioned Three Mile Island and meltdown in the same breath, too close to home.

AT the very best I would brood, keep quiet, and be moody. At my worst an outburst of expletives or harmful remarks. Learning to control anger is a life's work, in my case a work in progress.

Answer 8

I am very very bad at being angry,or very very good when I am. Sometimes I wish I could get angry and really feel justified in my anger but I can't do that because a difference of opinion doesn't justify rage.

Answer 9

It depends entirely what was said or what happened.
If someone was crude or rude, I don't usually mince words and sometimes go for the jugular, because that is the only thing they understand.
Other times, I mull it over, try to talk to the person in a non-threatening way, discuss what just happened and work through it. That usually works best for me.
I also evaluate how my words will be perceived and the knee jerk reaction they could create.
In other words, easy does it.......

Answer 10

Hmmm....I do not let myself get "angry" that's just not a safe place for me to go.

I will allow myself to get irked, miffed, annoyed, exacerbated, riled, exasperated, irritated and even pissed off...but angry?

Nope. Can't go there. My past experiences have taught me that Ambrose Bierce was right when he said - "Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret."

My anger has cost me more than I care to imagine, so it doesn't come out any longer.