But my own method for expelling and neutralising anger comes in the form of a “rage friend”. What’s a rage friend, you ask? Well, they’re a person we can share all our anger with, along with our irritations and those niggles we hardly dare speak aloud to most. And I can expel them without judgement — and, often, without advice in return.
In fact, I have a separate WhatsApp chat with my rage friend, somewhere we can shout into the digital void without it interfering with our day-to-day ramblings to one another. This means that at any one time we might be sharing a meme we find hilarious, discussing the merits of a recently released film, or finalising weekend plans in one conversation — and simultaneously, within the confines of our “rage chat”, be venting about a colleague’s laziness, lamenting the increase in our mortgages while our salaries seem to stay stagnant, or letting out a stream of consciousness about the way our partners communicate. In short, everything and anything that royally pisses us off goes into that chat.
And while that might sound as though we’re creating an ever-increasing vortex of anger, I’d argue that this setup is pivotal to existing more happily. Rather than encouraging rage, it gives us somewhere to channel it — and crucially, it keeps it contained. Advice is great, but sometimes we just want to be heard, and then we can let it go much more easily than expected.
As well as this, having a space where I can channel my anger st.