DISCOVERING EXERCISE AS THE SOLUTION FOR GETTING RID OF ANGER – When I was seventeen-years-old I would get into fights with my mother. Shocker. I was generally a good kid. But somewhere around seventeen, she started to hit my buttons. I had no idea what my ‘buttons’ were, but I knew she was hitting on them big time. She was driving me mad; literally. Maybe it was a change in hormones, but there was no doubt I was raging. I could feel it as knots in my stomach and my ears would get really hot. It was on odd sensation. I could feel so much negative energy inside my body. I felt like I was turning into The Incredible Hulk.
On one particular afternoon, we got into a fight, which, at this point I have no idea what it was about. I do remember how I felt and needing to get rid of that feeling or I was going to explode. At that point my body took over and I went to grab my running shoes. I guess it was the ‘flight’ reflex kicking in. I ran out of the house and down the road for half an hour until I was completely exhausted and couldn’t run anymore. As I slowed down to a walk, it occurred to me that the knots in my stomach were completely gone and I no longer felt one ounce of anger. I ran out all of the negative energy I was holding. I walked back home thinking that I had just found the solution towards the first step in conflict resolution. I think it’s fair to say that once when emotion is involved, the conversation is over. Emotions have a mind of their own, which is to protect, defend and attack, whether it makes sense or not. This is why it’s important to take a break before sitting down to a difficult conversation. Before you come together, you each need to find a way to dispense that emotion in a healthy way; not in a Big Mac or ice cream kinda way. So go for a run, dance it out, hit some balls on the tennis court, shoot some hoops or swim some laps. Because discovering exercise as the solution to get rid of anger CHANGES EVERYTHING!
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