Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow will never come, right now is the only time you have. How much time have you wasted with your anger? Whether it be at your ex, or your boss, or your family, or friend. You holding onto these negative feelings is only allowing the person who made you angry to continue to hurt you long after the original offense. Let it go. Yes, it’s easier said than done, I know from experience; but it is also better gone than holding on. Holding onto anger, hostility, and annoyance is not healthy for you, or your children. Anger causes increased blood pressure, and heart rate. Holding onto anger can cause headaches, anxiety, high blood pressure, and oodles of other physical ailments. Single parenting becomes harder still when you are ill.
Your children learn from you, and what are you teaching them by holding onto it? Oh, but you hide it, right? Wrong. Your children pick up on your emotions, and when you are holding onto negative feelings, they know, especially if you are a single parent, because they spend so much time around you and only you. They can pick up on the small clues; the facial expressions, the body gestures, the change in tone, everything.
So what can you do about it? Write down your feelings on paper, all of it, or write whoever you’re angry with a letter, telling them all about it. Don’t hold anything back. Now take that letter and tear it up into little pieces and every time you tear the paper, imagine the anger as a black cloud of gas leaving your mind and body, now toss it, or burn it (in a safe place) and actually see the black smoke leaving. Now do a relaxation exercise such as deep breathing, or visual imagery and feel better.
Letting go of anger may not be an easy task, but it really is better than living with it for the rest of your life.