Anger management tips for adults

by Brenda
(Oklahoma)

As a teacher, there are many moments in a day when anger can creep up. It is usually not directed toward children, but often at adults. Schedule changes, impatient parents, and insensitive administrators can really get my anger up. How to deal with stress and anger resulting from that?


What I do for managing anger is to try to remember that these people are not out to ruin my day, but probably have some reason for acting as they do. Schedule changes are unavoidable, and my strategy for them is to always have a backup plan at all times. I remember that at the end of the week, this schedule change and irritation will not matter much.

One of my favorite anger quotes is - "If it will be funny five years from now, it is funny now". This keeps my daily irritants from taking over my attitude, and helps me in dealing with anger. One of the best ways to control anger in a situation that you have little control over is to simply imagine something humorous - such as you boss wearing pink undershorts, or having to volunteer for a water dunk contest at a fundraiser. This works every time for me.