There are a lot of angry people about. I find myself one of them, as today a tiny minority of people hand the keys to number ten Downing Street to a man palpably unfit to be Prime Minister. On a blisteringly hot day, my patience is further tested by a driver crawling along under the speed limit creating a convoy of frustrated motorists gesticulating in his wake.
Other things anger me too. The anger I have at things beyond my control, the isms and the phobes and all that social injustice. The climate change crisis, the plastic in our seas and the obsession with mobile phones and reality TV ( especially when it’s at the expense of a love and appreciation of the outdoors.) I’m angry about the state of schools and hospitals and the divisions caused by Brexit, the list goes on. It’s an anger that simmers away though quietly quelled by the demands of our everyday lives.
Closer to home, I fume at the fly tippers and vandals that blight the countryside. Mike Ashley for ruining my football club. This is surface anger, easily vented with others who are equally dismayed by all manner of increasingly glaring failings.
But I think we’re mostly angry with ourselves. I’m angry I don’t do more for the environment despite a deep love for the countryside. I’m angry I’m eating so much rubbish, fast tracking myself to cuddly status and perhaps more worryingly, to adult diabetes. I’m also angry that others aren’t angry too, wrapping themselves in a blanket of ignorance.
But whilst some anger can be channeled usefully, it is largely redundant of purpose. So the question I find myself asking is how do you get rid of it?
Well it seems to me there are a few things that work. Number one is simply to slow things down. Slow them down wherever we can. This goes against the grain of 21st century life but if you never have time to think, to feel, to appreciate, to participate, then what is your life about? A never ending series of tasks to be completed? Anxiety is a huge problem for millions of people. Anxiety often occurs because you feel you don’t have enough time. Anxiety and anger seem like close cousins never too far away from one another. Finding time is no easy task these days, but not having it leads to resentment because we can’t do the things that make us happy.
Slowing down doesn’t mean do nothing, it means slow down and do more of what you love. If there’s nothing you love to do, you need to find something or ask for help in finding something, maybe you need encouragement, motivation. Once you’ve got it, you have somewhere to take that frustration, that anger and turn it into something far more healthy and productive.
I couldn’t do a well being blog without mentioning the countryside. If you slow down, and allow yourself some time to immerse yourself in nature, whether it be rambling by a river or through a wood, it becomes harder and harder for anger to maintain a foothold in your mind. Hang about that leafy goodness.
Lastly, don’t be on your own and that’s not so you can spill out all your woes to others but be around people who can help dissipate it by accentuating the positives and sharing in the things you love. In such ways genuine friendships are made. Research shows that strengthening social bonds and taking regular green exercise greatly reduces your risk of developing dementia.
As I finish this off, a bead of sweat trickles down my face. It has been twenty eight degrees today. If all else fails a cold shower should stop the mad blood stirring.
