Last Updated on January 6, 2023
Anger has the power to get the best of us. If you have a very bad temper, there’s a good chance that you’ll take it out on somebody because you’re overthinking the situation. That’s not good for everyone concerned.
That’s why it’s important to learn how to control your anger. And while everyone has his or her way of dealing with anger, the following short stories might give you an idea of how you can channel your negative feelings into something positive so that you don’t feel so unhappy.
Here’s a collection of stories that deal with anger and how you can overcome it.
Rick the Hothead
Rick was a young boy that was constantly angry at everything around him. He always fought in school with the other kids. His teachers couldn’t say anything that would pacify the kid. And the parents of his schoolmates were getting concerned.
The boy was earning quite the reputation.
After talking with school officials, Rick’s mom tried everything she can to calm Rick down. She tried different methods until one day she came home with a canvas and paint.
“What’s this?”, Rick asked.
Rick’s mom handed over the painting equipment and said, “Whenever you feel angry, paint whatever it is you’re angry about instead of lashing out.”
Rick wasn’t that happy about it but he gave it a shot anyway. Over the next few weeks, the young boy created several artworks. They mostly depicted disturbing images though. So his mom took all of the paintings and called Rick over so that they could talk about them.
“Tell me, Rick. What are these paintings about?”
“Well, the first painting is about how some of the kids show off their new clothes and gadgets. The next painting is about my teacher who keeps on telling me about how I’m doing things wrong. And the last painting is about how one of my schoolmate’s father suggested that I change my attitude. All of them make me so angry.”
Rick’s mom, in a calm voice, took Rick by her side and told him:
“Don’t you see it, Rick?”
“See what?”
“You’re so angry at all of these things but not once did you try to understand why you’re getting so angry. What have all these people done to you, really?”
Rick thought about it. It slowly dawned on him that all of these people he was angry at didn’t do anything wrong. The kids at school were showing off their good fortune but never teased him about being poor. It wasn’t their fault they were richer than he was.
His teacher might have scolded him but he was, admittedly, being a problem in class because of his attitude. And his schoolmate’s father was only trying to help him correct his mistakes.
Not once did he try talking about what he was feeling with these people. He knew that his mom hit all the nails in the head.
“I see it now, mom. I was letting my bad temper control me instead of the other way around.”
“That’s right, son. You should do a better job of controlling anger before it consumes you. You’re not a little boy anymore. You should know better by now.”
Rick nodded in agreement. His mom went on:
“Next time you get angry, take a deep breath and walk away for a couple of seconds. And when you come back, talk to the person you’re angry at. You might be surprised to find that all they’re trying to do is help you become a better person.
Rick took his mom’s advice and started to watch his actions. It took a while but eventually, Rick became less agitated over the simplest things. He even started to feel happiness when around other children.
Moral of the Story
Don’t allow anger to take control of you. Instead, you should learn to control your anger by understanding where it’s coming from and talking about your feelings with others.
Nails in the Fence
There was a father who had to deal with his son who had a very bad temper. He gave him a bag of nails and told him to hammer a nail on the fence every time he felt angry.
Because the boy got angry all the time, he found himself hammering tens of nails every single day. But as time passed, he was hammering less and less. As the boy realized, it was easier to let his anger subside than to hammer nails all day.
When all the nails were gone, he went to his father and said:
“Father, I’m all out of nails. But I don’t think I need them now. I’m able to hold on to my anger far better than I did before.”
“That’s good.”, said his dad. “But I want you to take out every nail you hammered. Tell me when you’re done.”
And so his son started taking out the nails he hammered over the last few weeks and called his father afterward. His father made his way to the fence and said:
“Tell me what you see, son.”
“The fence. It doesn’t look as good as it once did. There are too many holes now.”
“That’s right, son. You see, if you only hammered one nail, we might be able to fix it. But you’ve hammered way too many. You’ve gotten mad at your friend, your mother, and everyone else around you. You said words that hurt them. And so you started to lose the ones who love you the most.”
His father continued.
“If you continued to hammer more nails, the fence will be beyond repair. Even now that you’re able to control your temper, you won’t be able to bring the fence back to what it once was. The holes will always be there and they’re not so easy to replace.”
His son understood the lesson. He doesn’t want to live a life where he starts to lose the people he values the most. And while there’s not much he can do about the fence now, he can start taking care of what’s left so that he doesn’t damage it further.
Moral of the Story
Your fits of anger may only last a couple of seconds. But the impact of your actions can last a lifetime, especially to those who are always around you. Think about what your actions do to them.
