Metabolizing Anger
Anger is an emotion I am not very comfortable with. In fact, I usually try to suppress it. I dislike conflict, debate, fighting, trying to convince others to see the world the way I do. But if I am being really honest, I am feeling an intense amount of anger right now.
Anger that the Jewish people are once again being scapegoated for the world's problems. Last week I attended an event at my synagogue and we needed almost a dozen police officers there to keep us safe. What is the world coming to that we are in danger when we attend our place of worship within our community?
Anger that someone with mental illness, whose parents were trying desperately to get help for him, was able to get an AR-15, kill 18 people and force people I care about into lockdown at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine for over 72 hours.
Anger that the biggest compliment going around my 30th college reunion was “you haven’t changed a bit”. Are we not supposed to change after 30 years? This does not seem compelling or reasonable to me and I refuse to waste my one precious life with this as a north star.
Anger that the new speaker of the house wants to take this country back 100 years. To have us live according to his religious values which are not consistent with the my own.
What do I do now? How do I metabolize my anger in a productive way? Anger can be energizing and powerful if used constructively.
Below are three ways I can metabolize my anger:
Advocacy work
Building a strong and supportive community
Taking care of myself
I can join a community of like minded people to show solidarity and strength. I can take care of myself so my anger does not get out of control. For instance I can make sure I get rest and that I feed myself so I don't get “hangry”. I can surround myself with people who don’t rile up my anger and instead are solution-oriented and ready to go out and make change.
Right now I need courage and to be connected to other brave people. People willing to speak up for the issues that I value. These are my marching orders and it feels right.
If any of the issues I wrote about resonate with you, let me know and I can share some of the things I am doing and resources I am using. These are hard times, but we can all contribute to making this a better world.
