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Anger Makes You Human
Give yourself permission to feel it
Aggressive, heavy, mean, negative, and unstable. Those are all words that might come to mind when we think of the word “anger.” That’s because anger is more than just a word used to describe an emotion — it’s actually part of what it means to be human.
In my recent work with my patients and personal life experiences, I’ve started to realize that people (myself included) struggle to embrace anger as a “normal” feeling. We’ve become a culture that is quick to judge and unable to understand the truths and layers behind anger. We also struggle with anger because it triggers physical discomfort and oftentimes leaves us feeling overwhelmed, drained, and exhausted.
I’ve been trying to encourage my patients to take a moment to acknowledge their “true” emotions without self-judgment. What I’ve come to realize is that it is often easier for us to tap into and acknowledge our feelings of sadness and anxiety than it is to feel angry. I believe a large part of this struggle comes from our foundation of self-authenticity as it relates to emotional expression. A lot of what we know about emotions, how to feel them, and how to manage them stems from our childhoods and the permission (or lack thereof) that we were given to acknowledge and express those emotions.
