If your partner is threatening to leave if you don’t go to anger management therapy, then you are probably trying to be quiet and unassuming to avoid risking an angry outburst. But ironically you are only making it more likely that you will have more angry explosions, more often and of a fiercer nature.
Are you angry about having to do all the work in your relationship? Do you feel like protesting against always having to take the initiative? Perhaps the only way to protest is to shut down and hope your partner will miss you enough to bring you back to life. But it doesn't work, so you get even more angry and you get told that you have anger issues that you need to get fixed. You are told that you need to go to anger management and that you really need to learn to control your anger. But you feel justified in your anger. You just can't take one more step towards working in the relationship and letting your partner get away with not doing anything.
Natalie took the hospitality for granted, and Shelly saw red. How could Natalie be so blind, insensitive and callous? Couldn't she tell how much she was hurting Shelly? Didn't Natalie know how much Shelly had put her life on hold to organize the visit? Wasn't it obvious how much money she had to borrow from Devon, and all the activities with friends and colleagues she had turned down? Shelly couldn't get over the fact that her well heeled sister would be so selfish, thoughtless and ungrateful. Her buttons were pushed a million times a day during that long weekend. But she never said a word.
"One more song" his wife pleaded. Mordi was inflamed. Who was more important to Lola, her friends or her husband? That was the burning question that pushed and prodded at his hot buttons. He threatened to leave without her if she didn't chose him there and then! Embarrassed, Lola excused herself and left with Mordi. On the way home she asked " Why do you always have to spoil my fun?" "You promised we would go when I gave you the signal. You broke your promise. You made me mad. It's your fault." Mordi blamed him wife.
" Why are you checking up on me? You must think I'm an idiot! You just don't believe I can handle this do you?" Kodi responded, irritated and upset at her insinuations. " You never tell me anything unless I pry it out of you. I want to know what goes on in your life, because I'm your partner." Cianna reacted with indignation. " You treat me like a child, always asking me if I did something or how I did it. I don't have to be accountable to you. You're not my mother!" Kodi roared as he tried to retain a modicum of ownership over his own life.
Fabienne drooled over that gorgeous pair of shoes in the store window. Just for once she wanted to indulge herself by splurging on something personal that wasn't an absolute necessity. She had spoken to Larry about it and he gave her the go ahead. This weekend she was going to treat herself without doubts or guilt.........Saturday morning Larry twisted the knife...............Fabienne's heart flew out of her chest. Her jaw tightened, her teeth ground together and her body went rigid. Gasps of indignation and disbelief gathered in her throat.........
Watching Tom rapt in conversation with their guests made Roxy feel left out and unimportant. Almost as if he heard her wish, Tom asked her for her opinion of the movie they were all talking about. She could hardly speak. She didn't want to be brought in out of pity or courtesy. She wanted Tom to feel her absence and truly desire her opinion, not just act politely ....The only trouble was that Roxie did want him to take another stab at reading her feelings. She didn't want to be just one voice among many but the center of Tom's attention.
Driving along in a state of utter despair, Vicky realized that she resented her son. She was actually jealous of him. Why did he get so much, and why had she got so little? Why did she have to fight for attention, while her son got it just for being her child? As a mother Vicky wants to do the right things and give her son the kind of life she never had. She wants to be the parent to her son that she dreamed of having herself. Usually Vicky is a good, responsible mother. But when Lynn isn't satisfied with her thoughtful sacrifices he turns into her ungrateful father, getting all the good stuff, and she becomes the envious child wanting to spoil his fun.
A barrage of customer complaints roused Reuben’s anger. It wasn’t his fault that the city was doing sidewalk repairs and making it difficult for people to enter his cafe for lunch. His anger got worse when his regulars didn’t pay attention to the signs he had put up to warn them of this inconvenience. Each customer had a few minutes of frustration , but he had to suffer entire days of it!
Paul’s heart filled with pride as his year end performance review glowed with positive and encouraging feedback. His heart sank to his boots when the expected raise didn’t materialize. The praise and recognition that made him feel validated turned into a silent, choking, disappointing rage of betrayal. Anger sets off a slew of physiological reactions in the body that prepare it to fight for survival. From stress hormones to increased blood flow in certain regions of the brain, anger acts as a fuel, providing the energy that motivates you to act in your own best interests. How you decide to use that energy determines whether you have a positive or negative outcome.
