Anger Can Come Out Sideways

Suppressing anger doesn't do anything to lessen it. In fact, because anger is energy, suppressing it is almost certain to intensify it. You may be unable or unwilling to express how you actually feel in a given situation. Instead, you become angry at the first person you see -- perhaps your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend or kids. This displaced anger is anger that "comes out sideways." If you consistently suppress your anger and never deal directly with its source, you will develop the habit of shifting it to another target. When you misdirect your anger and allow it to come out indirectly at the innocent bystanders around you, you will undoubtedly hurt and anger them. Now both of you are angry at the same time. This is fertile ground for a situation to grow out of proportion to the circumstances.