It was after 6 pm on a Wednesday.
I’ve had a difficult day at work and decided to pack up and go home.
I got up from my workstation and walked briskly out of our office into the central corridor of our 3-story building, and stopped directly in front of the lift, pausing for a moment.
Then, hearing a group of my colleagues approaching from behind me, I pressed the button to call for the elevator, then turned instead to my right towards the door leading to the stairs.
“Rebecca, are you coming down with us?” I heard a voice behind me calling out.
“Hey, I think I’m going to run down the stairs instead, but I got the lift for all of you”
” Why not join us and take the lift down?”
I turned back to her and decided to be honest with my answer.
“I’m feeling stressed out at work today, and I need to walk it off” I answered and smiled, turned back towards the door, pushed through it to enter the stairwell, and took off down the stairs.
I had meant what I had said earlier to my co-worker.
Because this is how I deal with stress and anger.
Sometimes, even for my anxiety.
I’ve always had the urge to walk or just to move when I had a difficult time processing my feelings and emotions, especially feelings of anger and tension.
Looking back at past experiences, whenever I was feeling hot inside due to situations that occur around me, especially when dealing with difficult scenarios and people, I usually try to cool down by moving.
Today was no exception.
It felt as though in order to hold my tongue and to have an outlet for how I felt inside, my body needed to have some form of physical movement.
If I had a punching bag hanging down in front of me, I would probably have started punching it till I felt better.
Since these are not easily accessible in my day-to-day, I walk instead.
And I walk fast.
While moving, I think out my thoughts in detail, reliving what had happened earlier in work meetings, and processing them, while I walk from point A to B.
My body turned on autopilot mode and made its way safely downstairs, navigating around others and across a few building blocks, then up the bridge to cross a small river, down the other side, and finally to my parked car.
Basically, I’d try to walk till I feel better, till my initial welled-up feelings of frustration dissipate, even if by a little.
And I usually do feel better after about 10 mins of walking.
Otherwise, the weight of my feelings will eventually come to the surface and tend to affect those around me, especially my husband and kids.
And no one wants an irritable mother and wife, snapping at them for the smallest error or annoyance that they did in front of me.
We find ways to cope however we can.
How do you cope with your feelings of anger and frustration?
If you don’t have one yet, one of the simplest way is to take a good walk.
Hope it helps to calm you down.