Lila was fuming. She had just received an email from her boss, criticizing her work on a project. She had spent countless hours on it, sacrificing her weekends and evenings, and now her boss was telling her it wasn’t good enough.
Lila tried to push the anger down, but it kept boiling up inside of her. She tried taking deep breaths, counting to ten, and even going for a walk outside. But nothing seemed to work.
As she walked, Lila thought about all the times her boss had belittled her in front of her colleagues, or given her tasks that were outside her job description. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
When Lila arrived back at the office, she slammed her bag down on her desk and glared at her computer screen. She could feel the heat in her face and the tightness in her chest.
Her colleague Sarah noticed her distress and asked if she was okay. Lila snapped at her, telling her to mind her own business. Sarah looked hurt and quickly walked away.
Lila realized she had let her anger get the best of her, and she felt guilty for taking it out on Sarah. She knew she needed to apologize.
After taking a few deep breaths, Lila walked over to Sarah’s desk and apologized for snapping at her earlier. She explained that she was feeling frustrated with her boss and didn’t mean to take it out on her.
Sarah forgave her and even offered to help her with the project that had caused her so much grief.
Lila realized that her anger had clouded her judgment and caused her to act out of character. She also realized that it wasn’t healthy to keep her feelings bottled up inside.
From then on, Lila made a conscious effort to address her feelings of anger in a healthier way. She took breaks when she needed them, spoke up when she felt mistreated, and learned to let go of things she couldn’t control.
While she still got angry from time to time, she knew how to handle it in a way that didn’t harm herself or others.