Author Topic: Need help to manage my own anger  (Read 15434 times)

mum

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Need help to manage my own anger
« Reply #15 on: June 07, 2005, 02:28:54 PM »
Bittles, you are very wise.  Guest 2: I believe this also.  Anger is a symptom.  It is not a person.  Anger is meaningful...something to get us to wake up and take notice.  When it becomes habitual is when it's not useful.  You sound very smart and aware. You will find help.  Newby's suggestion to find something positive to remark to your husband may sound nuts, but it makes sense.  Someone has to step out of this.
Perhaps thanking him for removing himself from you when you had the knife.  Seriously, that is something.
Thinking of you and wishing you well.  (((((((Guest 2)))))))
Portia, how brave of you, as well, to share your story.

Anonymous

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Need help to manage my own anger
« Reply #16 on: June 07, 2005, 03:05:14 PM »
Hey P:

Quote
Words on the screen, pixels and bits and bytes still have me with wet in da eyes, thank you.


You're very welcome.

Thankyou for being so generous and dredging up old bones.

You have made soup!!  Soaked out what's good from them and shared.

Ok ....enough from me....trying not to do the hijack thingy.

 :D

GFN

Guest2

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Need help to manage my own anger
« Reply #17 on: June 07, 2005, 08:08:55 PM »
Please let me say that when I read your post I really loved you. I loved your extremely intimate and personal raw honesty. I think you are a true human being.

Thank you.  Of course I have trouble believing your kind words, but that is my problem.   Who could love me?

Who are you really angry at? What happened?

Good question.  I know that I am angry and about what, but I cannot make a connection between that and what was happening at the moment I boiled over.    Maybe there is some incident in my past that I cannot remember.  In general,  I am angry at my mother for not protecting and supporting me, and for not loving me unconditionally.  At my father and grandmothers for not loving me and not even trying to hide it, at previous love relationships for screwing me over, at myself for being too submissive (past) and too aggressive (current solution to problems).  At my husband for not loving all of me (he says he loves 60% of me and the rest he wishes would disappear) and pressuring me into marriage when I was depressed.  And for making me hide myself, the part that he cannot deal with.

I am grateful to my grandfather, who loved and supported me unconditionally.   He died when I was 14, but I still grieve him.  I am grateful to the neighbors who fed me when there was no food at home and where I witnessed happy families in action.  I am grateful to my high school english teacher who let me tell her I had been raped and cry and kept her word not to tell anyone.

What would you like to right?

Most of them are dead.  I have given up on my mom.  But maybe my sister will live long enough to have a real relationship with me.  My husband is younger than my sister but I am not sure we will live long enough to have a real relationship.

The main thing I want to do is stop the cycle and send my kids out with a healthy family history so we will not be seeing them posting on any board like this!  No offense, since this board is saving my life.  But I want them not to have such awful things to heal.

I've already worked out that you don't want to hurt anybody. And least of all your kids. Give them big hugs and loving and everthing will be alright.

No it won't.  Unless I fix it.  I have been hoping they will not be too scarred but I think I had better be more active.  If I really don't want to hurt anyone, I can't sit back and let it deteriorate.

It sounds like you have hubby issues. Is he okay with you? Is he faithful? Is he understanding and helpful?

I don't know if he is faithful.  Probably, but he is so hard to read, and he does not think that telling the truth all the time is important.  He travels and has opportunities.  And I found things on his computer where he has downloaded sexy pix from escort services in cities where he travels.   Before that, he had said he never masturbates or looks at porn, I found that hard to believe, especially given our lack of sex life.  I don't know why he lied about it, because I was ok with it, I just want to know the truth.  He claims he got the pictures from those services because it made it easier to imagine, since he travels to those cities.  Do I look stupid to you?  

When I talk to him, half the time he does not say anything back, not even uh-huh, or make eye contact.  This was so maddening that I have all but stopped talking to him, and I think he likes it that way.  I felt like he was just using my need to communicate, to get at me and make me angry so I would be unhappy and explode, then I would once again be the bad one.  I think he has issues and somewhere deep underneath his thick leather hide he knows it, but as long as I am worse, he won't have to deal with himself.

You have no personal support network? That isn't good.
Yes. Sigh.  This is when you need an old friend.  They are all gone now since I was married.  Before, I had friends for years and years, even though I moved around a lot.

I'm worrying for you, and hoping you're okay.

I'm ok for now.  I just need to keep telling my story, and doing something to untangle the mess.  It does feel a relief after the storm, I just have to use this time constructively before the pressure builds up again.  I cannot believe what I did.   If you guys pray out there, pray for us.

mudpuppy

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Need help to manage my own anger
« Reply #18 on: June 07, 2005, 08:31:44 PM »
Hi Guest2,
Quote
Who could love me?

Why couldn't anyone love you? Just because you're angry at all the people who treated you badly? They're the ones who aren't loveable.
Your grandfather loved you. I'll bet your kids love you. I bet the friends you had loved you.
Quote
They are all gone now since I was married. Before, I had friends for years and years, even though I moved around a lot.

Can you find them and call them, just to talk?

Does your husband want a divorce? What the heck is the matter with him? He sounds bizarre.
Quote
I don't know if he is faithful. Probably, but he is so hard to read, and he does not think that telling the truth all the time is important.....
He claims he got the pictures from those services because it made it easier to imagine, since he travels to those cities. Do I look stupid to you?

Why do you say he is probably faithful? I'm not sure the rest of those statements support that conclusion. :?  :(
Quote
If you guys pray out there, pray for us.
 

Consider it done.

mudpup

Guest2

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Need help to manage my own anger
« Reply #19 on: June 07, 2005, 10:27:05 PM »
"Ouch ouch. It’s not easy and I feel you are a brave woman Guest 2. I want to say: it gets better, it gets much, much better.

Thinking of you and hoping you’ll go easy on yourself
."

Thank you Portia.  Thank you for sharing your experience.  I feel like the worst monster on earth and it helps.  I am not beating myself up or berating myself it just feels like a fact.  But I am determined to fix it, for my kids.  I love them so much.  They are really the ones saving my life because I am only motivated because of them

mum

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Need help to manage my own anger
« Reply #20 on: June 08, 2005, 12:23:13 AM »
guest 2: gotcha on that one: "my kids are saving me".  And we think they need us, huh?

I really think I understand how angry you were.  If someone was not reacting and yet quietly, very possibly, creating the tension....I would lose it.  I know I would.  I am so sorry you felt this way.

There must be a way for you to talk to someone in the area, I mean a professional.  Could you ask for a referral from your doctor?  Please stay open to help coming along.
I am sending you all the positive thoughts/ prayers/ love and light I can muster.  I will keep you in my thoughts.  There will be an answer.
Keep the faith, friend.
Mum

Guest2

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Need help to manage my own anger
« Reply #21 on: June 08, 2005, 01:51:53 AM »
Thank you to everyone who has responded on this thread.    All of your thoughts and ideas and, yes, attention is like rain in the desert.   I do not feel as invisible.    

Response to GFN:  
Thank you for the hug.  I feel it.  I will try all the suggestions on how to get help.  

"Praise to you for your sheer, utter and true honesty!"  Thank you. I feel that honesty is all I have left.  I have to get rid of most of the rest that I am built of, because it is faulty.  I don't know what will be left!

Guest2

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Need help to manage my own anger
« Reply #22 on: June 08, 2005, 02:05:53 AM »
Hi mudpup,
thanks for helping.

After 7 years I don't think I can call an old friend to unload my huge burden!  I will try to think of someone, though.

"Does your husband want a divorce? What the heck is the matter with him? He sounds bizarre."
Thanks for saying that.  In this house I am the sick one, not him, remember?  He is the one from an intact family.  He is the one who says his childhood was totally normal.  That was one thing that attracted me to him.  I do not believe it anymore.   Another lie.

"Why do you say he is probably faithful? I'm not sure the rest of those statements support that conclusion."
I am not sure whether he is or not.  But I have lost all desire for physical contact.  I manage the money and if it were costing much I would know.  Also, he is pretty repressed about sex, however, that is probably only with me, as the pix he looks at (still, I am sure) are pretty advanced.

I guess I just don't want to have to deal with that right now, too.
 
Guest2

Guest2

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Need help to manage my own anger
« Reply #23 on: June 08, 2005, 02:18:11 AM »
PS My husband does not want a divorce.  I don't know exactly why but I am sure it is not because he is so in love with me.   I think it is the stigma, the fact that his sister is still married, and he wants to be taken care of.
But who is taking care of me? I ask you.

John

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Need help to manage my own anger
« Reply #24 on: June 08, 2005, 04:49:56 AM »
(((((((((((((Guest2))))))))))))))

I am so very sadddened and sorry to read about you having been raped. And at such a very vulnerable tender young age. That is something that is dreadfully difficult to deal with at anytime, and even years later it's still just as awful. That you had to keep it a secret is almost too difficult to for me to comprehend. It seems like something that you'd need to shout at and scream at from the roof tops.

You are in my thoughts (((((((Guest2)))))))). Please keep posting. You don't have to talk about any of this if it's too painful. But then maybe it could be helpful. I don't know. But then this is cyber world and you are safely anon. If you can't even talk about it here, then where can you?

John

Anonymous

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Need help to manage my own anger
« Reply #25 on: June 08, 2005, 08:44:13 AM »
Hi again Guest2:

Ok......please take another look at what you wrote:

Quote
I have to get rid of most of the rest that I am built of, because it is faulty. I don't know what will be left!


This is a thought, not a fact.
True....you have had some nasty experiences and they have caused harm.
True....you have honesty as a quality that is admirable.

What else Guest2?  I refuse to believe this is the only good thing about you or the only thing you have going for you.  Aren't I a pain in the bum???

If I were there with you and I knew you ......I bet I could make a long list of your assets and be sure I would right now.   Things that aren't faulty.  Things that come naturally, are just part of you, and are good.

I understand that you feel badly about what you did.  What I'm trying to communicate to you is that that is different than what you are.  You ...are a good person, Guest2, who behaved in a way that you found unacceptable (as most people would).  That doesn't change who you are.

The person you are may be seething with anger.....which probably needs to come out.  Once it comes out......you will still be the same person, just feeling less angry.  See what I mean?

So please....go a little easy on yourself.  How about making a list of the good things about you, the good things you've done, the good things you enjoy, etc. ??  This is no cure for what ails.  It's just a reminder that you have plenty of good in you and have behaved well and have experienced good stuff too, in your life.  Remembering to pay attention to the good in you too will help you to overcome the stuff you would like to improve.  

For instance:  If you think:  "I'm a very determined person.  I accomplished blank".  This will help you to think:

"I can overcome this too".

I'm not sure that you have to get rid of anything you're built of.  I'm not sure that is even possible.  But you can think about it differently, work on feeling better about yourself, work on making changes that you want and what will be left.......will be something much better than what you started out with, is my very best bet!

(((((((Guest2))))))

Hope this helps a little.

GFN

Anonymous

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Need help to manage my own anger
« Reply #26 on: June 08, 2005, 10:38:38 AM »
A quick one Guest 2

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I feel that honesty is all I have left.

How important is honesty to you? Honesty is top of my list. Some folks might have 'love' at the top of their list. Or 'achievement'.

I don't think you can live a worthwhile life unless you're honest, at least with yourself. But that's just me, a world without love might be unbearable for many.

At the risk of stepping into Cosmic Joe/various guest :)  names territory, have you done any online personality tests? This might seem pretty banal stuff right now. On the other hand, it might help you think about yourself. There are lots if you're interested.

I didn't know until I came here that I'm an introvert for example. That helped me a lot. keep posting! portia

mudpuppy

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Need help to manage my own anger
« Reply #27 on: June 08, 2005, 11:13:16 AM »
Hi Guest2,

Quote
But who is taking care of me? I ask you.

Nobody is.
So maybe the first thing you need to do is start taking care of yourself?
Have you done what some have suggested and checked at women's shelters or local churches for some counselling help? The local DA may be able to help also. They usually are connected to anger management counsellors through the courts.
Quote
He is the one who says his childhood was totally normal. That was one thing that attracted me to him. I do not believe it anymore. Another lie.

Any guy who starts cutting himself when his wife says she is going to leave has some very serious, deep seated issues going on.
But it also sounds like he is not the root of your problem, he only makes it worse with his aloofness and insensitivity.

So its back to you helping you.
Generally speaking if we really put our minds to something we can usually get it. So maybe if you just concentrate on doing what you need to for your kids, doing the bare minimum for your husband and put the rest of your energy to finding some local help you can find some.

Take care. I hope you're doing a little better today.

mudpup

Guest2

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Confusing muddle of responses to everyone and thanks
« Reply #28 on: June 08, 2005, 11:56:57 PM »
Thank you everyone for the enormous help you are giving me.   I try to respond to all the points, but sometimes if I don't it means that I am not ready to address the truth you are speaking.  But I hear it.

"You are in my thoughts (((((((Guest2)))))))). Please keep posting." Yes I think I will.  I feel better just talking and being listened to.   It is helping me open up my luggage and empty it out.

"You don't have to talk about any of this if it's too painful. ...If you can't even talk about it here, then where can you?"Um, no place.   I am not sure I can tell everything but I am going to tell something every time.  Please keep reading!  It has been a long time since I felt like what I had to say was interesting to anyone.  I treasure that feeling.  Thanks John and everyone who is out there.

"The person you are may be seething with anger.....which probably needs to come out. Once it comes out......you will still be the same person, just feeling less angry. See what I mean? "
That is indeed logical.  Until it comes out - how corroded are my insides going to get?  How much more twisted are my thoughts going to be?  How much more will I realize or remember?  And when it comes out - who will be killed in the avalanche?  This is the fear I have.  I want a drug as insurance so I don't get all out of control again.  I thought I had an old bottle of prozac...I'm going to search the house.  

"So please....go a little easy on yourself. How about making a list of the good things about you, the good things you've done, the good things you enjoy, etc. ??"  Will try to get off my bum and stop wallowing in it now.  
 
"I'm not sure that you have to get rid of anything you're built of. I'm not sure that is even possible."  Please let it be possible.  I am built of being ignored and devalued and told in every way possible to shut up and disappear.  I want to tear that down and give myself some niceness.  Otherwise what I am is coming out onto my kids and they do not deserve it.

When you listen to me and give me caring advice and words, I am building a little part of myself back with that.  

"Hope this helps a little. "
A Lot.  Thank you GFN
 
"How important is honesty to you? Honesty is top of my list. Some folks might have 'love' at the top of their list. Or 'achievement'."It is tops on my list also.  If you have love without honesty, is it really love?
 
If you are saying that I have the most important thing already, thank you.  I had not thought of that.  Yes, I agree.  So I have a solid foundation to build on after all the crap is torn off.

"...have you done any online personality tests? ...There are lots if you're interested. ?  I can try it.  I will try about anything.  Where are they?

Thank you portia!
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
"Have you done what some have suggested and checked at women's shelters or local churches for some counselling help?"  Not yet.  I have decided to do so.  I have looked up some places.  But the next step is the big one, can I do it?  I am afraid of losing my kids.  I have heard so many horror stories (well, off the internet and such).  If I seek help and tell the truth, will I be seen as a menace to my children?

"Any guy who starts cutting himself when his wife says she is going to leave has some very serious, deep seated issues going on.
But it also sounds like he is not the root of your problem, he only makes it worse with his aloofness and insensitivity."
 Yes.  How did you know that?   He made it worse by not accepting me, after acting like he would be so accepting.  And by not being close to me, and driving everyone else away.  I feel understanding him to some extent is important because otherwise he is treating me in a way I don't like, for reasons I can't understand.  It helps me to see that he is not a monster, not correct in being cold and distant to me, does have issues which prevent him from getting close to me and it is not some lack in myself.

"Take care. I hope you're doing a little better today."  Thank you mudpup

Guest2

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a little humor
« Reply #29 on: June 09, 2005, 12:09:47 AM »
If I were there with you and I knew you ......I bet I could make a long list of your assets and be sure I would right now. Things that aren't faulty. Things that come naturally, are just part of you, and are good.

Ok here goes.....I'm smart (no wait, I didn't figure out that my husband who cuts himself has problems), um ok I'm nice (hey wasn't that me waving a butcher knife at him) ok scratch that, ah, I can whistle!