I'm not a very angry person, I don't really have it in me to be genuinely pissed most of the time. Sometimes I'll get irritated, and I can usually kinda DBT my way through it, but honestly I'm really pissed at my ex. The more I think about everything horrible she did and continues doing, the more I kinda spiral into being pissed and it's not helping me at all but I don't really know how to decompress all of it. I'm rightfully pissed, she did some truly nuclear shit I'd need content warnings for, and having that anger is healthy at some level. But like I said, I need to get my mind off this shit so I don't become a bitter divorced dad lol
I think it's helpful to have a healthy outlet for it. I have relationships where we can vent and get it out, and it feels better just releasing it. Not every friend and romantic partner is good for this, so you gotta choose the right person. Venting on Hexbear is also free, if you gotta do that, then it's OK.
Some people find journaling helpful. If you can afford it, you can do therapy, it did help me to vent my bs.
I think it's absolutely fine to need to complain about shit that happened to you in the past. It's really hard to let go if you're stuck in the "I'm not allowed to discuss this feeling in my head" process that a lot of people can get trapped in due to their circumstances. Like not everyone has the social or financial resources. Honestly, I didn't until quite recently.
If you want to complain about your ex in this thread, I'm cool with it. I needed to spend 100+ hours complaining about my ex to get over her, and I wouldn't even consider her abusive or anything.
I get so intensely pulled into hobbies that it's hard to focus on anything else, so working on some hobby project is usually a good way for me to forget about shitty things and shitty people. Anime and/or weed can also be effective for that purpose. Oh also, my dog can sense when I'm upset and will do her best to comfort me, so that helps quite a bit too.
Buddhism has good advice on this.
Or read Ch.7 of this, it's about 50 pages: https://archive.org/details/feeling-good-the-new-mood-therapy/page/n17/mode/1up
Yeah OP if DBT helps, give buddhism a try.
DBT is basically just buddhism secularized.
I heard once that anger is a misalignment with your expectations and reality. Once I heard that, it helped me navigate my anger a bit better.
Like, for instance, you expected better treatment and behavior from your Ex. I think it was totally normal and understandable to expect that. I'm angry at the inhuman cruelty of capital, because I expect to live in a world where people are good and kind to each other. You're right that anger can be a healthy drive, but anger can also be really overwhelming and get out of hand if you feed it too much, so you've got to slowly turn the burner down from "bout to go postal" way down to a calm simple "This is not what I expected. I deserve better.". At that very very low simmer, it's still a productive drive, it's still an affirmation of your dignity, but it hasn't become self-destructive or cruel.
idk, hope that helps, comrade
I don’t really deal with it. I just scream into the void or pillow until i become tired and sleep
During a hard period of time for me when I was also rightfully angry about some fucked up family shit, it really helped to just sit down with my guitar and vent all my anger by playing music, and now the hard times have become better but the guitar skills stay
It's not for everyone definitely, but any hobby will probably help to redirect that anger instead of going through the events over and over again in your head
I came to a realization that my anger is mostly a useless emotion, it was hurting me, not the things I was mad at. I decided to reserve my anger for only when it was useful. Even then it was problematic, because unleashing my anger selectively could work to achieve things, but it still made me feel terrible, hurt personal relationships and other people, and I felt like I lost control of myself.
Now I try to look at the reasons why I'm angry, what I can do about it, and put off acting on it until I've calmed down. Communicating without anger works as well or better than communicating through anger.
I don't know if this is the right way to deal with it, but it mostly works for me. Sometimes anger still overtakes me and I stew in it, but I try to distract myself until it passes.
I did some therapy for anger issues, and one thing I realized is that anger, for me at least, is an emotion that feels safer and more powerful to experience than what I'm actually feeling. Hurt, insecurity, sadness. It helped me to get into the habit, when I'm getting angry, to ask myself if there's another feeling that I am masking with anger.
My therapist made me realize I don't really get angry at anyone but myself, because I have pretty much no sense of self worth therefore whenever someone crosses my boundaries I just grin and take it. Maybe try childhood trauma?
Writing helps me get it out of my head, and also sharpens my thoughts on the subject, hones it and prunes it into something shapely and defined, so that it makes sense and doesn't take up too much space in my head when I think about it. I've said goodbye on the page to people I used to be so close with, was so angry at what they did. Now the feeling has simmered into a low bitterness that doesn't bother me as long as I don't bother it.
Going into the woods near my house and screaming my lungs out into a backpack seems to help
Being humbled by God after making reckless decisions due to self pity as well
I just kind of get bitter and never stop. I'm still mad at times about things that happened 20 years ago.