Welcome to the Very Well Mind podcast. We've interviewed over 100 authors, experts, entrepreneurs, athletes, musicians, and others to help you learn strategies to care for your mental health.

This episode is hosted by psychotherapist and bestselling author Amy Morin. Now let's get into the episode.

Okay. You're listening to the Friday fix.

Every Friday, I share a quick mental strength exercise that will help fix the thoughts,

emotions, and actions that drain you of the mental strength you need to be your best.

Today I'm talking about anger management and the steps you can take to stop losing your cool.

Anger's actually a really interesting emotion. It's probably the easiest feeling to express.

We yell, swear, say things we don't mean, raise our voices, or maybe even break things once in a while, because we're mad. It usually feels more socially acceptable to express anger in a lot of situations. You might

see someone get angry in a store, or you might be the person who yells during a traffic jam.

You're much more likely to see people get angry than you are to see them cry.

Quite often anger masks other uncomfortable feelings that are harder to express,

like disappointment, embarrassment, sadness, or fear.

In fact, it usually feels better to be angry than to be sad.

And sometimes anger gives us energy and it gives us courage. If you get mad enough about

a problem in your life, you might make a change. Or if you get angry over some social injustice

that you witnessed, you might find the courage to speak up or join forces with other people to create

change. Anger isn't always helpful, though. We've all done and said

things out of anger that we later regretted. When you're mad at someone, you might find yourself

saying the most hurtful things you can think of because you want to hurt them too. The things you say

and do out of anger might be completely out of character when you're calm and rational. But that's what anger can do.

It can hijack your brain and cause you to act out in some pretty horrific ways. Fortunately,

you aren't a victim to your anger. You have the ability to learn to recognize it, manage it in

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