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Comment by namaemuta | Hacker News Reader

I totally agree with you except for the part of avoiding angry. It shouldn't be avoided but redirected towards something more useful. For example it's a great fuel for lifting weights at the gym.

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I would be cautious about that, there are even warnings about this approach around the web. Reason - if pissed off, you might push yourself a bit too much and risk of injury is much, much greater since your mind wants to fly (or see those barbells fly sky high), but your body is exactly same as usual, with it's weak spots.

if you end up injured while trying to get some steam off, now that would piss and disappoint many.

so gym yes, but I would put a bit lower weights, or go for some cardio

Thanks for the remark, that's totally true.

Most strength training programs prescribe how much weight you're going to lift on any given day. I can tell you how much I'm going to lift today, and I can tell you how much I'm going to lift on Friday. In that context the anger makes it easier to succeed, but doesn't pose much, if any threat. I'm not going to put extra weight on the bar, beyond what I was scheduled to attempt.

Right, acknowledge the anger and move past it. It's like stress-related issues, your mind/body is telling you that there is a problem that needs to be resolved.

If something repeatedly causes anger or stress it might be a good idea to re-evaluate whether you need that thing in your life. Stuck in a 35-minute queue? It might be time to take your business elsewhere. Angry and motivated often go hand-in-hand.

Fix the problem, don't dwell on the emotion.

Well yeah but you don't carry around a dumbell, do you? Anger is a waste of energy and very dangerous in most of the cases. It should be avoided at all costs unless you're going into a fight and don't have any other choice.

I wholeheartedly disagree with the OP of this line of commentary. Saying anger is good and one should embrace it is a really bad suggestion.

Anger makes you blind, it fogs your rational thinking and makes you do things you'll probably regret afterwards.

So, avoid it and think rationally.

IIRC, there's a Terry Pratchett's quote that says something like this: "(...)you should be afraid of that cashier at the supermarket that quietly is being yelled all the time until one day he appears with a shotgun".

The worst thing you can do is avoiding anger because sooner or later you'll explode. Learn to handle it or burn all that excess of energy on something useful but never avoid it.

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