The world of anxiety and depression will inevitably dish out a certain degree of confusion and chaos.
You will find promising roads and dead ends of all kind as you search for ways to relieve your anxiety and or depression. This journey may frustrate you at times and the frustration can easily turn into irritability and anger.
Here are a few tips to help you deal with that emotional powder keg.
In order to get a handle on anger issues you first have to become more self-aware. This of course doesn’t mean getting all meticulous about how you look, but rather being aware of your emotions so that you can exert more influence over them.
As anxiety sufferers we tend to let our emotions rule us and dominate our state of mind and reactions to the outside world. Putting a cap on this behavior by taking more responsibility for your own emotions will make a world of difference and empower you to not let things boil over. In other words, own your emotions.
Self-awareness also isn’t just about monitoring thoughts either, it’s more than that. It also entails being mindful of anything involving speech or action. Think about it for a moment. Say you go around all day with jerky rapid movements, speak at a frenetic speed, exude impatience and so on – how are you going to feel? Probably pissed off and frustrated.
Therefore it would be advisable to walk and talk easy thereby diffusing much of the feelings that sometimes turn into nasty emotional fits.
Also, if you are more self-aware you’ll be less likely to act on impulse. It is more likely that you’ll be ready and able to assess a situation more appropriately and show more self-control in approaching scenarios that normally set you off.
This all doesn’t mean that thought and action should be staged because honestly it can’t be. So don’t be robotic either and unrealistically polite, just be open, be easy.
You can also employ meditation as a means of taming your inner tiger. For decades Westerners have turned to Eastern modes of philosophy to tap into their spiritual side.
And whether you’re into the spirit world or not its well known that meditation will lead to less stress and create an atmosphere conducive to self exploration. Less stress and self knowledge tend to translate into more self-control making it ideal for anger management.
The same benefits can also be had by practicing Yoga and or exercising in general. The bottom-line is that you have to find ways to relax. And although being anxious means that relaxation does not come easy you have to make the effort nonetheless.
Otherwise you run the risk of growing increasingly mad and irritated about the minutiae of life, which by the way we can’t control anyway.
My Anti-Anger list:
- Indulge in healthy past times that make you happy.
- Don’t let other people control how you feel about yourself.
- Stay far away from all forms of negativity.
- Don’t live in the future.
- Own your emotions. That is to say that you have to be accountable for how you feel. Don’t blame objects or people for how you feel inside.
Do all that and you’ll be angry a lot less.
Great article Paul. Your anti anger list is something I believe has been of great help to me personally.
My friend Damian suffered from anxiety and depression for about 15 years and while working through the feelings he was having he wrote a book called Emotional SOS. I will post the website up because I think that some of his ideas will be of interest to you.
Thanks.
thoughtful and concise with exccellent recommendations which i happen to use myself. iam at ground zero in this club but if being responsible for this kind of work is right where i want to be . pls get back to me thkx
Between the depression and anxiety I have found that yoga has worked the best, so has aromatherapy with soothing music, hiking, and long showers. When up against someone to control me, such as bullying, creating an argument. I will walk away. I already beat myself up without having someone else adding to it. Taking care of oneself is a great help when in the depths of depression. Walks and hikes when anxious. I am thankful for this site. We/I am not alone!
I’ve been very irritable lately, and it’s hard to shake off when over and over again you are pulling yourself up and something triggers the anger and anxiety again. Before you know it you have been consumed by it.
Anxiety and depression are the two most crucial part of human behavior which delivers a negative attitude among them, therefore in most of cases we have been noticed that these factors are simply delivers the acts of frustration and negative nature. So to bring self awareness this post is far better for our imagination.