Wednesday, 24 February 2010

How To Deal With Stress Related Anger

We all know about straws that break a donkeys back, candles that burn at both ends, and mist that goes red. Well I have a new one to add. E-mails that ignite blue touch papers.

For the first time in decades I threw a Benny at work and all because of reading an e-mail that wound me up. The office doors came off the hinges from my office up three floors to the office of the 'head honcho'. Boy was I mad.

Normally I never react but this time the blue touch paper was lit, my chain was yanked, by button pressed by someone who claimed that I lacked enthusiasm and commitment. Now you have to give them 10/10 for sniper like precision. What better way to get a reaction than to challenge someone's core values and sense of identity.

Normally I'd never react if wasn't so deadline pressured either. So therebye hangs a warning. If you're tired and stressed steer clear of e-mail.

Normally I usually go 'face to face' in situations like this and clear up the misunderstanding with an adult exchange of views. This time was different. I was yanked back to the early years in my career and I could do nothing to control it. The beast had escaped!

Did it do me any good? Well because it was so unexpected most people really took it seriously (so out of character they said) And that's what makes me feel so bad. How the hell can an e-mail make me become someone else? Or did I subconsciously want the 'dark side' to emerge.

Not standing back. Not stopping. I reacted in a gullible way. Had I taken stock, had I thought it through I would read the intention of the e-mail. There was a bigger game being played and I was merely a pawn. The incendiary device was specifically calculated to create the effect in me that it did in order to raise a point about an irksome issue.

Green eyes. I recently got a promotion. Some people haven't and some people believe that they deserve it. Doh! what better way to 'let it be known' than putting a key in my back so I go nuclear! Remote device Robinson is delivered with intended results.

The only thing that pisses me off now is the fact that I wish I was that clever!

Related Posts:
Seven Costs of Perfectionism
How To Deal With Angry Co-Workers

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for your post. I've just written an article about anger: http://improvingwonderfully.com/2010/10/27/anger/ that you could find interesting.

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