Unhinged!

The other day, I watched a movie called Unhinged. It was scary good. And boy, did it teach a good lesson about anger.

Imagine this ... Disgruntled Man walks up the walkway of a house (his house where his ex-wife and new husband live). It's the middle of the night. He breaks in, kills the inhabitants, and then proceeds to set the house on fire. He is not having a good day and neither are the dead people.

Fast forward ... Man is now sitting at the stop light lost in thought. After all, he just committed multiple murders and arson. The least he can do is think about it right?

Behind him, sits a woman and her son. Woman is impatient (she's running very late). She starts honking when the light turns green and Man doesn't go. She honks loud and hard. Oh oh! She honked at the wrong guy.

The whole story takes off from there when Man becomes the worst road rager in life.

Side note ... Man did pull up to Woman and asked her if she knew what a light tap on the horn was. She stared straight ahead, ignoring him. Then he asked her to apologize and they could both be on their way. Boy urged Mom to apologize, but Mom being stupid and angry did not. Instead, she flipped Man off. Not the best move.

Of course, had she apologized and Man had driven off, the movie would have ended after 10 minutes.

Man was unhinged. His anger had blinded and deafened him to everything. Of course, he was probably a psychopath. But that's beside the point.

Angry people do crazy things. They shoot people, run over dogs, burn homes, etc. Rage doesn't let them think or be rational.

We all get angry at some point; that's normal. But to become unhinged, takes the anger above and beyond.

Getting angry is OK. Hit a pillow. Scream. Talk about it. Create distance between the thing or person that is making you angry. Give yourself a chance, because once the anger takes hold of you, it's too hard to stop it. And once you come out of the anger frenzy and realize what you've done, it's often too late.

So, next time you get angry, take a deep breath. Step away from the scene and cool down. Then come back and deal with the situation or person. You'll be surprised at how perspectives shift when you take the space you need for the anger to dim.