The Ripple Effect of Anger & Bitterness: Actifit Report Card: October 21 2019

My step count is pretty low today and I will tell you why. I meant to go to the gym today but lost all of my emotional strength and energy after a counseling session. I got a call from a young lady who needed help last night and so I gave her an early appointment. She arrived on time and was a picture of decorum until she began to vent. I listened to her and my heart broke and broke for the poor darling. By the time we were done, I was drained and couldn’t find the will power to go to the gym. I settled for walking around the compound briskly for 30 minutes and I am glad I did. The little exercise helped clear my mind and the physical exertion helped dissipate the heaviness in my heart.

I listened to the girl speak about her father with so much anger and I wondered how parents allow their issues to spill over into the lives of their children so blindly. In these parts of the world, couples marry for different reasons and one of the main reasons is their circumstance. This means that it is not usually about love but rather about money or legitimizing and unplanned pregnancy or peer pressure, etc. Such couples invariably express their distrust and or distaste for each other in subtle or obvious ways and in the long run, their children witness it and suffer for it. Many children are scarred for life because of the toxicity of their parents’ love-hate relationship.

The painful part of this matter is that not everyone who is influenced by experiences in the past is truly aware that they have been influenced and instead of seeking help, they rationalize their weirdness thereby birthing more negative behavior. Anger is a dangerous thing which, if left uncontrolled, could lead to catastrophic actions in the future. I submit that we ought to learn from our parents’ mistakes and move on without letting their actions control our own lives. If you are caught in the middle and you are unsure of what to do and how to manage your feelings, seek help. Talk to someone who is objective and mature and who cares about your well-being. It could be a relative, a mentor, a counselor, a friend or a pastor.

Think about it this way; if your father beat you up as a kid or punished you beyond the call of discipline and you carry the anger inside of you as you grow older, will it ensure that your father apologizes or suffers for the injustice? Will it fill you with a sense of satisfaction or fulfillment? Will it add anything meaningful to your natural growth and development? Nope! It would only taint you and make you a bitter person who would likely hurt other vulnerable and the cycle would go on and on. We sometimes nurture our anger like a badge of righteousness until it becomes a weight in our chest and a dark cloud over everything we do. Soon enough, friends, spouses, and children begin to reap the fruits of that anger and you eventually become worse than the parents who hurt you. Wake up and smell the coffee people! Get rid of emotional weights quickly, let it out before it destroys you.

Daily Activity, Walking