Message #27 - Anger Is An Energy Suck!
You may be young and strong
– a bundle of energy – an “I can do anything” type. Good for you.
Or you may be, let’s call
it, more mature – older than the young studs/ladies. Not quite the same as 20 years ago, but not
bad.
It doesn’t matter. Young or old.
High energy/Low energy. Sometimes
you get mad. And when you do you pay a
price. There’s a cost.
Because Anger is an
Energy Suck!
You can see it in the other
guy. Watch somebody go off, rant and
rave, get pissed. After the outburst has
run its course, how does he look? Wiped
out. Drained. Tired.
Like it or not, the same thing happens when you are the ranter.
So is it worth it? And if it isn’t, what can you do about
it? Not get mad when you’re mad? Pretend
you’re not angry?
That won’t work. You can’t stop yourself from having an
emotion when you’re in the grip of the emotion.
But what you can do is realize
what’s going on. Rather than being
consumed by the emotion, unable to think beyond it, you can take a look at
yourself and notice the effect it’s having on you and those on the receiving
end of your anger.
Wait! What if you are the one on the receiving end
of your anger? How can that be? Easy.
By being angry and suppressing it.
Stuffing it. Suppressing your
anger is like filling your insides with corrosive acid. It’ll eat you up.
When you’re in the midst of
being angry the idea that you’ll pay a price for your behavior isn’t what
you’re thinking about. I know that. Quite the reverse, you’ll seem energized by
all the stuff that’s spewing out of you or gathering inside you. It may even feel good in the moment.
All that is a temporary
phenomenon. When you’ve finished you’ll
feel it. Because Anger is an
Energy Suck!
So, you say, I’m damned if
I do and damned if I don’t. I’ll suffer
irrespective of whether I express my anger outwardly or inwardly. Yes you will, unless . . .
There’s another possibility
too. It may be that if you can see
yourself behaving irresponsibly you’ll put a halt to it. Maybe – just maybe – sounding off or
suppressing isn’t the best way to achieve what you’re trying to achieve. So let’s say you stop talking or yelling or
stop suffering silently. Now you’re
headed toward a double payoff, a perfecta.
You won’t have to clean up the mess your anger creates in your
relationship with – whoever. You’ll also
preserve your energy.
You may think your
warehouse of energy is limitless.
Wrong. No matter who you are you
have a finite amount of energy. So
conserving it, not wasting it frivolously, is a smart thing to do.
Be the first in your crowd
to recognize that you don’t have to allow anger to get you by the throat. There are other ways to express yourself, to
get what you want. And so do yourself a
favor – be smart . . . Because Anger is an
Energy Suck!