← Field manual

anger · emotional · relationships · leadership

I blow up or I shut down

Short fuse, cold silence, replayed arguments, shame after.

Diagnosis

Both explosion and freeze are untrained pressure responses. The feeling is not the sin. The unmanaged discharge onto people who did not earn that round is.

Protocol

  1. 1Name the tell in your body 60 seconds earlier than you usually do.
  2. 2Delay the send / the sentence. Walk. Water. Then speak at half volume.
  3. 3Repair fast when you miss. Do not make them manage your remorse.

The standard: Notice earlier. Speak later. Repair same day.

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

James 1:19–20