WHEN ANGER BUILDS UP, TAKE A STEP BACK AND EMBRACE SILENCE

It’s one of those things that we have heard a million times - communication is the key to a healthy relationship. Yes, it is. Sometimes, silence is too.

A junior from school is seeing someone. She keeps complaining about altercations with her boyfriend on trivial issues. “It’s exhausting,” she told me. During one such fight, she lost her cool and told him a few things that she believes could have been avoided. “Half of those allegations aren’t even true. I don’t know why I said it,” she told me.

That got me thinking – does adopting the policy of silence when you are really worked up, a good way to avoid building up a bigger disaster in any relationship – romantic or otherwise?

Maybe it is. Just taking a step back and shutting up may actually help us to not speak out things that we don’t mean. Moving out of the situation, both mentally and physically, is also likely to aid in clearing up the mind and seeing things in a clearer perspective. Taking a break from the situation could be done for a few hours to a few days, depending on the intensity of emotion – let the anger die down before you decide to have that conversation. When you go back to that same chat when the mind is calmer, much of what appears to be a fight would be turned into a healthy discussion, and in turn, a happy ending! Inner Voice comprises contributions from our readers. The views expressed are personal