Do you ever find yourself getting angry or annoyed at something you’ve read online?
If you’re tempted to fire off an irate reply – STOP!
(For the video version of this blog, click ‘play’ on the image below)
Wait before you hit that reply button.
By all means write your reply – get out all the things you need to say, then –and this is important! – don’t send it.
Take a step back, breathe, go and have a cup of tea, stretch, go outside, anything to change state. Even sleep on it if possible.
Then when you feel calmer, re-read the message, go over your reply, and you may find you want to rewrite it in a more reasonable way.
Importantly, you’ve given yourself the chance to express your anger in the moment. But you’ve left the decision as to whether to send it to your calmer more reasonable self.
Because it’s good to remember – once it’s out there in cyber-space, there’s no taking it back. And that might have some tricky repercussions.
Want some help managing angry or irritated thoughts?
Get in touch to book some one-to-one anger management therapy with me, and learn how to transform those angry feelings into calm, confident, assertive actions.
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