Annoyance
Blog-city didn’t work at all yesterday. What a right pain.
One of the things I know about myself is that I will take out a bad mood (well, an angry one) on anyone in the vicinity. I know it, and I can’t ever seem to help it. But, since I know that, I have what should be an absolute foolproof trick: I stay away from people until I’ve calmed down (usually far less than an hour). This in fact works like a charm. I get nasty to my pillows and get to be as angry as I like, then I feel all better and we can move on with our lives. (Note that this is a rare occurence — every few months, say.)
But for some reason, people can’t accept this. If I say I’m in a bad mood and will take it out on you, so I’m going to go away, please just leave me alone for a bit, it just doesn’t work. I don’t want company, I don’t want jokes, I don’t want sympathy or whatever all else. I want to sulk in my room. And if you insist on coming and giving me company, I am going to take my bad mood out on you. And then I’m in the wrong for taking out my bad mood on you.
I just don’t get it. It might not be the ideal way to deal with anger, but it works perfectly well for me when it’s allowed to. I can calm down and then talk, or even phone someone and talk (for some reason, there’s no problem there). I don’t hold on to the anger, if I can just let it dissipate on its own.