Anger and stress often work hand-in-hand. They both are normal and natural emotions that we all experience and are generally triggered by the perception and attitude we have about a person or situation. Both feelings activate the fight or flight response. Adrenaline pumps through the body and we feel the anxiety of needing to get away from the experience or the need to fight it. Some people feel angry because they are fearful, stressed or nervous about something or someone, while others might feel stressed because they can’t control their anger. Anger can be a cause or symptom of anxiety and stress. Either way, learning good anger management and stress reduction skills can make the difference between responding in a healthy or unhealthy way.
The consequences of chronic anger and stress are not good. The imbalance can contribute to high blood pressure, gastrointestinal issues, coronary heart disease, headaches and depression. If you are at a point in your life in which you are ready to make permanent positive change, then getting involved in an anger management program can help you overcome this behavior.
In general, individuals who are able to deal with stress and anger in their life in a constructive way have a more positive outlook in life. It starts with how we talk to ourselves. We reinforce negative beliefs by telling ourselves that things are a bigger deal than they actually are. For example, if your house is the one on the street that is decorated for Christmas, but not decked out, do you tell yourself that you are inadequate because you didn’t go as big as your neighbor or praise yourself for getting the decorations up at all? The way we talk to ourselves can help determine the level of anger or stress we will experience.
The bottom line is that we can choose to be angry or stressed, or to respond in a more positive manner. The goal of anger management classes is to provide the knowledge to understand your behavior and the tools you need to recognize and control how you respond.
Participants learn:
1. How to recognize what makes you angry and/or stressed.
2. How to manage these triggers.
3. How to be assertive by expressing yourself in a respectful and clear way without aggression.
4. How to listen and communicate to look for more peaceful conflict resolution.
5. Empathy training.
6. Specific stress management tools.
7. Improved “self-talk”.
8. Ways to improve your expectations and the way you think and react to situations.
If you can’t take another day of your high anger and stress levels, then take the opportunity to enroll yourself in an online anger management course for self-improvement purposes. Online classes provide participants with complete flexibility to login and out of the program whenever they have free time. You will also enjoy the ease and privacy of being able to stay at home to learn the material. At the end of the basic 8-hour class you will have a whole new set of tools to utilize whenever you feel your stress and/or anger levels rising.