CynthiaWVirginia
Posts: 1915
Joined: 2/28/2010 From: West Virginia, USA Status: offline
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Do you have rage? Yes, I'm only human. It is a very rare thing though, we're talking a few times in the past five or six years. Where does it come from? I cannot remember what triggered it last time. Sometimes it has happened when some asshat says something totally inappropriate about molestation or rape. Those are major buttons of mine. Are you frightened of it? Of other people's rage, yes, as I doubt many have the control that I do. I have been around too many people who shriek profanity while hurling hard objects or bellow like a raging bull and get all physical to trust others that much. My own rage, no, though it usually triggers a panic attack at the same time. Powerful negative emotions can trigger my panic attacks, so it isn't because I am afraid of my own rage. Do you embrace it? I don't know what you mean by embracing it. Do I wallow in it and let it consume me and dictate my actions? Heck no. If not how do you control it? By encasing it in ice, a full lockdown. Uncontrolled rage can kill. I do not even allow myself to speak until I have calmed down. The chemicals will be purged from my brain after about twenty minutes and all I have to do is wait it out. I prefer to be alone. Sometimes I get busy with some chore, like scrubbing. Other times I take a brisk walk. I taught my kid how to deal with rage by suggesting he hold a feather pillow to his face and screaming into it until he felt better, or taking a plastic baseball bat and beating the cr*p out of a wadded up blanket on his bed. Or...we would make bread, and pulverize the dough with fists. Rage needs a safe outlet, or some help cooling off. Do you channel it or squash it down and ignore it? Rage should be given as high a priority as preventing a car wreck, so no, I don't ignore it. I wait it out mentally and emotionally, and try to channel the energy released into something safe. If I can't, then I just tell family and friends I need a 20 minutes' time out. If someone tries to talk with me, I will hold up my hand in a warding off gesture and I will turn my face away and even leave the room if my wishes are not respected. (I have had a movie trigger rage.) What are your coping mechanisms for coping when rage visits it's self upon you? All of the above. I know my triggers and I avoid them. If a conversation is steering in a bad direction, I will cut someone off and tell them we need to change the subject. Now I will talk about people I have known whose rage has been out of control. They have too much stress in their lives, often trying to be too perfect and overcrowding their day. If someone is near the end of their rope all the time, it's easy to go berzerk. Life must have balance. Sometimes we have to force some kind of balance into our lives, by taking peaceful strolls or by watching comedies...giving the mind time to be saturated by peace and laughter. So, the way I see it, the first step in coping would be prevention, then avoiding triggers, then finding ways to cope with feelings of rage once they already happen, and then forgiving onesself for only being human, then trying to learn from this mistake so history doesn't have to keep repeating itself.
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