Two weeks ago we explored the first 3 sub-phases of frustration. If you missed the article, you can read it here.
This week we will finish up with the final 3 sub-phases of frustration, which are anger, justification and acceptance.
Anger is the most important sub-phase. In Cajun terms, people get “pissed off.” That’s the point where they’re going to have to make a critical decision. Contrary to popular thought, there are two kinds of anger: positive and negative.
Negative anger can overtake you if you submit to it. You say, “Man, we are done for. We’re poor and we don’t have a car, so we’re going to wait it out.” It is the thought and feelings of helplessness. You allow the negative energy to control your thoughts and actions.
Some take the attitude as if “Nobody’s going to make me move out of my house.” It is distorted, possessive, hardheaded and ill-conceived reasoning. Most of these people are just plain stubborn.
On the flip side of negative anger is positive anger. Positive anger is where I chose to hang out, and it’s where all of the people who are coming back to New Orleans chose to hang out. It’s where I’m asking you, the reader, to hang out when life is overwhelming and your frustration is overpowering.
Positive anger gives you the opportunity to bypass the other sub-phases of frustration. If you stay in negative anger, you’re going to go straight into the fifth sub-phase.
Justification: You are looking for all the reasons why it’s not your fault that all of this is happening.
You won’t have a sense of ownership. Instead, you might have a sense of entitlement, thinking someone else should fix this and send a helicopter or a boat.
The last sub-phase is acceptance, when you accept that this is your fate, which makes you then stay in a stage of being stuck.
The good news is, that if you have positive anger, you can avoid looking for something to get excited about. You can avoid blaming it on others and you can take on an ownership spirit.
Don’t play the victim.
Don’t play the blame game.
Own it!
With an ownership spirit, you can recommit. This is the most important, and final phase of your attitude.
