I've been told that I "bottle things up and then explode". How do you not "explode"?
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Journal. Let your feelings out, incrementally, in a place that you don't feel vulnerable for doing so.
Today co-worker did X, they're a cunt. It annoys me because Y. Seriously, Co-worker is a dick. At the time I wish I had done Z, but Z is illegal. Nexr time I'll try [reasonable action]
There's a journaling format that I really rate call "jackal journalling", invented by Kate Raffin, and based on NVC. It's basically what you say - brain dump of abusive/judgemental thoughts, but with an added layer of going back and analysing the feelings associated with each thought, and trying to identify the unmet needs they express. It can be really helpful for turning a head full of anger/despair/whatever bad thoughts into a useful assessment, and it can help give direction as to what to do next too.
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Yeah my one coworker has tried to teach me to just agree to and comply with whatever my bully is saying. I am actually able to do this for a period of time! But after a while, I tend to fail and have a reaction. It especially happens if I am provoked repeatedly in relatively quick succession.
I guess one of my frustrations is that my entire life, I have been taught that I am not supposed to react to people who bully me or otherwise act inappropriately to me or others. I am just supposed to let them do it and try not to show any emotion or reaction in response. I can act passively to try to protect myself, but actively is not correct.
The frustrating thing about it is it just enables bullies to continue bullying while I struggle to maintain composure from repeated incidents.
I guess it's like...
Not reacting to bullies doesn't make them go away or fix the problem. Contrary to popular belief, some people don't stop taking advantage of others just because you aren't visibly reacting.
But reacting to bullies makes me look like a crazy person.
So what then?
Have you considered going to HR about this? I've never confronted a bully directly at work. You need to be indirect, not direct. Not every problem can be solved head on.
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That sounds fucked, dude. Best of luck with your complaint.
TBH now that you say this, it sounds like might be in a similar situation to me at my last job, which I persevered with for 3 years of riding burn-out (because the work was almost ideal for me, and the people were mostly amazing), and then quit.
There's already lots of other good suggestions here, but one point that might be worth noting: I think there are two different purposes types of therapy: psychological help (e.g. understanding your own brain, and figuring out ways to change it), and counselling (listening to your problems, and probably offering some professional guidance).
It sounds to me that given the circumstances you describe above, counselling is probably more immediately valuable - what you really need to do is to get some clear external perspective on your situation, from someone with whom you can share details privately. A good counsellor should be able to help you find multiple paths out of your predicament (you might also benefit from seeing multiple different counsellors, since they will all provide different perspectives). In my experience this really helps to ground your understanding, and helps answer the "Is it me, or them, or something else that's the problem?" question.
IF that process provides more indication that your angry outburst are because of what's going on in your head, and not just a fairly justified response to a shit situation, THEN maybe it's a good indication that you should look in to psychology or anger management approaches, or similar. If your angry outburst have existed prior to this work situation, then perhaps you could skip the counselling step, but it still might be worth it.
At my last job I was having angry reactive outbursts (which I had had in the past, but to a much lesser degree, and they were now spilling over onto family and friends), and getting anxiety (which had never happened before). I saw a few psychs and counsellors, and the last one I saw while at work said something like "If you anxiety is about a real work problem, and not an imagined/exaggerated/catastrophised problem, then it's not anxiety, it's stress". That really tripped a switch in my mind, and made the decision to quit super clear. Immediately after handing in my resignation my anxiety levels dropped off a cliff, and my anger slowly dropped back to tolerable levels over the following months.
Thank you for your lengthy message. Many others on here are quick to shun and judge me.
I actually didn't realize that there was a difference between counselling and therapy. I'm sure I could use both, but that is a good thing to be made aware of. I have both stress and anxiety haha!
The vast majority of my outbursts are with my supervisor. I do on occasion have it with someone else if I feel they are treating others inappropriately.
From the internet, a lot of people ask me why I don't just quit. In some scenarios it's not really that simple and really not what I want to do. I don't entirely feel comfortable as to stating all the reasons why, but you just have to trust me on this.
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First, don't tell me that the answer is just to "not bottle things up", because that's objectively incorrect too. Society doesn't want you to have any negative emotions. I need to know how to not express negative emotions at all whatsoever unless I'm alone. I know it can be done because it is done in many other people on the planet.
Edit: Ok so I think one of the things I want to try doing next is ask for a med change from my psych provider.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]don't tell me that the answer is just to "not bottle things up"
I hate to be that guy, and believe me I was in that boat once. But the solution is to not reach the point where you are exploding from the amount bottled up.
Humans are not meant to be stoic creatures. People have feelings, that's called being human. You need to find someone you can trust(NOT A COWORKER), and every once and awhile vent to them about things that you aren't able to resolve with the person that's causing the frustration. That's your best solution.
Reading your replies, this seems to be more a super toxic work environment issue which I think if you fix, will resolve most of your issues. Due to this, I recommend ON-TOP of the previous recommendation, also either contacting HR about it, or if you do not feel comfortable with doing that, finding another job. You should not be being bullied by anyone let alone a manager. There are so many work policies in place in most work environments protecting you against this, and not to mention most civilized countries have laws against it.
Being said, if you feel that it is less of a you bottle things up, and more of a you aren't thick skinned enough to be able to handle the every day work-life without having anger issues and exploding, you may also want to look into some form of Anger management or calming technique. But honestly, it sounds like it's a combination of the first two issues and less of an anger issue.
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First, don't tell me that the answer is just to "not bottle things up", because that's objectively incorrect too. Society doesn't want you to have any negative emotions. I need to know how to not express negative emotions at all whatsoever unless I'm alone. I know it can be done because it is done in many other people on the planet.
Edit: Ok so I think one of the things I want to try doing next is ask for a med change from my psych provider.
You are not your thoughts, nor are you your emotions. You are the observer of those things. Somebody presses your buttons, but it is your choice whether or not those buttons fire. For example if a child said some hurtful things to you, would it have the same impact as an adult? I should hope not. What is stopping you from viewing somebody as a child, especially if they are acting like one?
In addition to cardio, try breathing and cold water. Always breathe through your nose, even when running. Try to breathe through your nose as a cold shower takes your breath away. Or go for the full ice bath. An ice bath tells your body (the producer of anger emotions and chemicals), “hey, I’m in control here, you are not good at assessing threats”. The mind follows the breath, or the breath follows the mind.
But if I’m being honest I’ve always had a hot temper, and what is really helping me is Lithium. It allows me to observe anger without being overwhelmed by it.
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Thank you for your lengthy message. Many others on here are quick to shun and judge me.
I actually didn't realize that there was a difference between counselling and therapy. I'm sure I could use both, but that is a good thing to be made aware of. I have both stress and anxiety haha!
The vast majority of my outbursts are with my supervisor. I do on occasion have it with someone else if I feel they are treating others inappropriately.
From the internet, a lot of people ask me why I don't just quit. In some scenarios it's not really that simple and really not what I want to do. I don't entirely feel comfortable as to stating all the reasons why, but you just have to trust me on this.
For sure. Quitting is not an option for many.. Job security is hard to come by in a lot of places. I don't think you need to state reasons for it not doing it, it's enough to know you've considered it and it doesn't seem viable to you.
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First, don't tell me that the answer is just to "not bottle things up", because that's objectively incorrect too. Society doesn't want you to have any negative emotions. I need to know how to not express negative emotions at all whatsoever unless I'm alone. I know it can be done because it is done in many other people on the planet.
Edit: Ok so I think one of the things I want to try doing next is ask for a med change from my psych provider.
So you harbor resentment.
Clear the air, don't take things personally, realize other people's emotions are out of your control and move on with life.
Easier said than done, though.
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First, don't tell me that the answer is just to "not bottle things up", because that's objectively incorrect too. Society doesn't want you to have any negative emotions. I need to know how to not express negative emotions at all whatsoever unless I'm alone. I know it can be done because it is done in many other people on the planet.
Edit: Ok so I think one of the things I want to try doing next is ask for a med change from my psych provider.
Bottling things up is totally fine if it works for you. The people telling you not to do that are just projecting because they can't do it.
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First, don't tell me that the answer is just to "not bottle things up", because that's objectively incorrect too. Society doesn't want you to have any negative emotions. I need to know how to not express negative emotions at all whatsoever unless I'm alone. I know it can be done because it is done in many other people on the planet.
Edit: Ok so I think one of the things I want to try doing next is ask for a med change from my psych provider.
Take a lesson from welding class: You release what you've got bottled up just right with a little spark and you get an intense yet precise flame. It's amazing what you can get done with skillful application of said flame.
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Have you considered going to HR about this? I've never confronted a bully directly at work. You need to be indirect, not direct. Not every problem can be solved head on.
Yes I have very recently. It is currently an ongoing ordeal but I am not hopeful. People have gone to HR about my supervisor before and it has never changed anything.
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First, don't tell me that the answer is just to "not bottle things up", because that's objectively incorrect too. Society doesn't want you to have any negative emotions. I need to know how to not express negative emotions at all whatsoever unless I'm alone. I know it can be done because it is done in many other people on the planet.
Edit: Ok so I think one of the things I want to try doing next is ask for a med change from my psych provider.
Some dark humor helps.
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First, don't tell me that the answer is just to "not bottle things up", because that's objectively incorrect too. Society doesn't want you to have any negative emotions. I need to know how to not express negative emotions at all whatsoever unless I'm alone. I know it can be done because it is done in many other people on the planet.
Edit: Ok so I think one of the things I want to try doing next is ask for a med change from my psych provider.
Nice people tend to let things go, they will eventually catch up and you will blow. Instead when something happens or something is said you need to stand up right in that moment. This way it was dealt with and there is nothing to bottle up.
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Bottling things up is totally fine if it works for you. The people telling you not to do that are just projecting because they can't do it.
Bottling things up is very unhealthy.
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Bottling things up is very unhealthy.
Ah, one the people showed up. How surprising.
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Yes I have very recently. It is currently an ongoing ordeal but I am not hopeful. People have gone to HR about my supervisor before and it has never changed anything.
Keep trying, document everything. Get people to talk and align their stories. Consider getting several people with grievances to go to HR together. Showing up together is a show of force most HR take very seriously in my experience.
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Yes I have very recently. It is currently an ongoing ordeal but I am not hopeful. People have gone to HR about my supervisor before and it has never changed anything.
In my experience if you have a toxic boss you clash with, and HR is unwilling to deal with the problem then they are complicit, which is a far too frequent scenario, if at all possible it sounds like a new job would be the best option for your mental health while you talk to a therapist about the situation to find coping tools in the meantime
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Have you never had anyone bully you or others at work? I'm glad to hear it, man, but we aren't all that lucky. My coworkers handle it better than me, but I'm also picked on a bit more than them.
This is the first time the bully at work also happens to be my supervisor. I have been able to handle workplace bullies in the past by interacting with them minimally, but I can't do that when it involves my supervisor.
I'm not sure why you are getting down voted so hard for this. You are describing a very direct awful relationship thats unavoidable. Sort of like an abusive parent.
I would advise you try to find another job, or if you can move laterally in the company that might get you to a different supervisor.
Also, your supervisor can go fuck themselves in their own face.
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First, don't tell me that the answer is just to "not bottle things up", because that's objectively incorrect too. Society doesn't want you to have any negative emotions. I need to know how to not express negative emotions at all whatsoever unless I'm alone. I know it can be done because it is done in many other people on the planet.
Edit: Ok so I think one of the things I want to try doing next is ask for a med change from my psych provider.
The people commenting on here are unhinged. Clearly a lot of "I was treated poorly by my boss so you should deal with it too" energy.
I saw someone imply it couldn't be bad unless you were being physically threatened with a knife at work. Ive seen people say you should just say how you feel when you feel it, but that won't change the main problem here which is that its not okay for a supervisor to treat people poorly.
Nothing you change about yourself will change your supervisor. People quit managers not jobs, in most cases. It wouldnt be unreasonable to look for other work or to request a change in supervisor/team.
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Ah, one the people showed up. How surprising.
All bottling means is that you are choosing when to deal with something. I agree it isn't negative on its own.
Would you argue for bottling things up indefinitely in some situations?
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All bottling means is that you are choosing when to deal with something. I agree it isn't negative on its own.
Would you argue for bottling things up indefinitely in some situations?
Would you argue for bottling things up indefinitely in some situations?
I guess. That sometimes happens by accident when you bottle something up ... and then just forget about it.
