My anger could kill me someday. That’s what I realized today as I tried to recover from a self-inflicted near-stroke. I thought my head was going to explode. At least that’s what it felt like. This wasn’t during the anger and road rage. It was about 3 minutes after the incident. Let me give you some background.
I have struggled with anger management issues most of my adult life. When I was in my 20s and 30s I enjoyed the feeling of righteous indignation. This didn’t come from a religious grounding, it came from my own ego. When I was at my maximum anger, I felt powerful and confident. I KNEW I was justified in whatever I was mad about and in my level of hate. I was right. You were wrong. I can say whatever I want, because I’m right.
I didn’t question whether I should be yelling at people. If I was right, and I’m always right, then it’s not my problem if you can’t handle the truth. Ironically it was when I was working for the post office that I was forced to confront my anger. “Going Postal” was a catch-phrase for committing workplace violence. I was never violent. I have never punched someone in anger. Felt like it, but never have.
So it was during my first anger management peer group session that I finally started to question myself about my anger. There were people of all ages and ethnicities in our group. We talked about what we’ve done, what we’ve been through, and what the repercussions were for ourselves and the ones we love. To say it was eye opening is an understatement. It was a revelation.
Even with that revelation, I was a slow learner. I wasn’t yelling at my boss, but road rage was nearly a daily occurrence. Somebody cut me off? Ride that S.O.B.s tail. Someone driving slow in the fast lane? I’ll go around them, sometimes on the shoulder! I’ll get in front and then jam on the brakes. Why? To teach them to not drive slow in the fast lane.
Sometimes, believe it or not, people got mad at me! We would play stupid games and nearly get ourselves or those around us injured or killed. Why? Because these ignorant dumbasses need a lesson! I don’t know if it’s because I got older, but my body started reacting to these high-stress situations. When the adrenaline wore off my back would spasm. I could feel my heart beating hard in my chest. My head throbbed with pain in time with my pulse.
So for over 20 years now I’ve been wrestling with my inner demons. I’ve come to recognize the the situations that trigger a near-instant retaliation for a perceived insult or lack of fairness. If I’m centered and grounded or just in a good mood I can now let them roll off my back. So what happened today?
It started with a typical trigger. I’m slowing down to make a right turn at a stop sign. As I get to a few hundred feet from the stop sign, I see the car behind me change lanes and accelerate to get in front of me. Oh no you don’t! I sped up to try to block them, but they were able to get in front of me. Ok dumbass, you’re in front of me now. Hope you’re happy. You’re obviously in a big hurry.
So what do we do at the stop sign? Well they make their turn because nobody is coming. It’s Texas so the speed limit for this road is 70 mph. What does Miss In-A-Hurry do? Slowly, very slowly, accelerates in the lane in front of me. It’s 2 lanes each way. I go around. Now the fun begins!
As soon as I get back in front of her, she accelerates to get in front of me. As she passes I see her turn to me, yelling and flipping me off. When she’s in front, I do the point at my head and twirl my finger as the international symbol for your crazy. She must not have liked that because she hits her brakes and we play the tail-gate game. She’s a rank amateur. I’m a pro. She thinks she’s going to impede my progress by driving slow in the fast lane? That’s why there’s a shoulder, so I can pass you on the left, silly!
I wasn’t really mad. At least I didn’t feel angry. I was kind of mad, but I wasn’t seeing red and completely out of my head. I knew that I had started it. I shouldn’t have accelerated at the beginning before the stop sign. That was petty. I knew it before we got on the highway. I was definitely on her ass as we started accelerating. That’s why she was going slow. She was paying me back for trying to keep her from passing me before the stop sign.
The stupid road rage games made me miss my exit. She got off at the exit and I drove on to the next one to circle back. As I was taking the exit, I started to feel my pulse pounding in my head. I started to get a little nauseous. The pressure in my head was unrelenting. I was actually frightened I might stroke out. It took a good 15 minutes or so for the pressure to ease and my heart to stop pounding.
Wow. What an idiot! That lady wasn’t to blame. It was me. My fault. I started the games. I continued playing the games. As they say, “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.” My lack of self-control almost killed me today. I’m almost 60 now. Is that how I want to die? A stroke caused by my reaction to what someone else did? No.
I’m going to learn from today. I’m going to appreciate the luck I had that today wasn’t the day I died. It gives me a chance to reflect on what I’ve learned about myself over the years. I’ll accept that I’m going to screw up and learn from those screw ups. I can see that I’ve made progress in managing my anger. My goal is to never go through that again. Next time? I’ll strive to not be petty and just let the morons be morons. Wish me luck!
Sixty years 