Anger Management for a Good Cause

It's been a pretty stressful week, well, maybe month or so at work. Just lots of things to accomplish. All at once, it seems.

So when our marketing writing team decided to do a volunteer project and get out of the office, I was thrilled. Our company generously pays us for some volunteer time off each year – even during work hours – so 9 of us writers left the office at 1 p.m. yesterday and headed to the Bridge Street Mission in Wausau.

We knew it was going to a be a sketchy weather afternoon of manual labor – not usually my thing – consisting mostly of raking and picking up sticks and other random spring yard work. Just as I was approaching the guy in charge who was giving our group instructions, I heard him say, "And if anyone is particularly angry today and wants to burn off steam..."

I yell, "Me, me. I am!" 

So he gave me a sledgehammer and told me to break apart some old planter things.

Man, that felt good! Except, sigh, the hammer was really heavy and I knew after one swing that it would not be good for my back. So I reluctantly gave it up to one of the guys on the team – who did not admit today if he was sore or not. I know I was hurting today just from all the raking and picking up sticks. We don't do any of that in our own yard. My body usually knows better.

But the folks at the recovery house were super grateful, so it felt good to do it, that's for sure. 

And warm fuzzies always trump stress. 

So does taking pictures. After I got back to town, I was able to take some photos of Royals softball (they beat Edgar) and baseball (we unfortunately blew a lead and lost). Then tonight after work it was rinse and repeat. Minus the sledgehammer. 

Oh, and post-game fish fries with friends also help manage stress or anger.

Follow me for more life tips! And be careful out there!