Break the Cycle

Factor: Annoyance

I guess the 64 million dollar question is what is a factor? In the context of my anger blog, a factor is something of a "miscellaneous" category. Factors can be facets of triggers, memories of incidents which tested my ability to express my anger and discussion of patterns in my actions.

So what is my annoyance factor? Well, basically, being annoyed by little things can result in anger. I can deal with up to three annoying instances in one day. After that, I start to lose my patience. How I handle multiple annoyances varies. If I'm in a situation where I don't feel comfortable, I tend to hold it in, which results in headaches or inflammation of a problem nerve near my neck. If I'm in a situation where I feel comfortable but fear the consequences of lashing out, I'll restrict my speech and put a threatening edge in my voice. If I'm in a situation where I feel no fear at all, I'll be physical, either in yelling or in some cases punching people. Hell, I sprained my wrist punching someone due to annoyance-laden anger. I can assure you I exercised more sense when punching people in the future. With annoyance, though, my reactions are not usually that severe. I recall one instance where a co-worker who had been chapping my ass pushed me too far by walking into restricted territory on his day off. People who witnessed it will tell you they were waiting for me to sprout horns. I didn't get physical, but I bellowed and ordered said co-worker to get out. That co-worker didn't dare to talk to me for three weeks. So yes, even when I just yell at people I can prove to be a scary individual. Making me let my guard down just for annoyance doesn't bode well for the morons that dare to do that, as I'm more likely to target more vicious waves of anger at you, even if you're completely innocent. With annoying behaviors, you make yourself one of my punching bags. Consider yourself warned.

So what annoys me? I don't think you have that much time. A lot of what annoys me is what I can't control: people excessively complaining, invasion of privacy, a failure to follow simple instructions, people wrecking just finished work, those who excessively flaunt themselves, you get the picture. In fact, I have devoted a couple works to this factor:

Pathos Regime  (18+) The cons of American youth #933047 by Turkey DrumStik

Winded  (13+) A tired Floridian's musings on Hurricane Season 2005 #1027019 by Turkey DrumStik

The question of how to handle annoyance remains. The problem is, I react so quickly to annoyance I can never stop myself from feeling annoyed. The deep breath method has resulted in mild panic attacks on a couple occassions. Getting away from the situation seems to be the best method, but I'm unsure what to do when that isn't an option.

I suspect, though, annoyance will be discussed again in the future.