Challenge 10: Anger

124. What outrages you? (Wake Forest)

I try to be patient. I try to have a smile on my face all the time. But there are moments when my brain ignores those efforts and lashes out in rage. Anger is a powerful emotion that lies within every living being, waiting for something to trigger it. Anger is not a bad thing; yet, some people become crazy due to it. This emotion is one that I try very hard to control, but there are something things that my emotions, in which I try to smile, cannot surpass. These are also the things that challenge my patience and ultimately trigger my anger.

Screams, shouts, booming music, all those contribute to the list of things that outrage me. This is especially so, for times when I try to work (in fact, for a time like now; as I type, I am able to hear every word from the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas that is playing outside). I feel my mind needs silence to work, and when any sound breaks that silence, I get annoyed. Shouting is just one of the factors that break the silence. Shouting once is negligible, but when the shout is in a microphone, for an announcement that was said a minute ago, it becomes intolerable! That just gets me angry, and makes me wonder how some people can be so deaf.

Doing unnecessary things outrage me – whether it’s me doing it, or whether it’s someone else. Surfing the web instead of doing work is an unnecessary thing I am constantly doing; not only does this infuriate me but fills me with regret too. Holding onto past memories is another one of those unnecessary things I find myself doing. I don’t have to do it, yet I cannot seem to let go of it. This thought it’s interrupted by a “shush” from a dorm parent. That’s another thing that I cannot tolerate. Consecutive “shhhhh’s,” even when there is no noise! That makes me want to shush them back, or do something that will go against the purpose of that shush.

Cluster on my desk, people barging into my room and leaving without closing the door, people sitting on my bed right after I make it (it’s no longer puffy), inconsideration, breaking promises, and the list goes on. I try very hard to overlook these miniscule things which have a negative impact on me, but everyone has particular things that outrage them, and these are just a few of mine.