The Heat Is On
Pacita S. Torres
“It’s not stress that kills us, it’s our reaction to it.”
As teachers, it is inevitable to experience stress especially in handling our students and juggling our time for finishing reports before the deadline and even time for household responsibilities. Sometimes, when experiencing stress, we easily lose our temper and poorly managed anger can gravely affect our teaching, health and relationships. Let’s discover ways to control our temper for a successful teaching experience!
It is believed that keeping all the anger inside or bottling it up is not the best way in handling anger, but venting it is not the best strategy either. When we are experiencing annoyance at the moment, partly maybe because of the noise of our students, we can’t help but lose our patience and speak in unpleasant language, or worse, we might end up releasing tantrums by screaming, throwing things and even hurting the people around us. This scene, though many have experienced it, should be avoided as much as possible. Venting anger could give you more problems than solutions because we cannot think clearly when our mind is fogged by rage. So the first step in handling your anger is to restrain yourself from an outburst.
Rather than throwing tantrums, one could express anger in a healthy way by writing in a letter about the things that made you upset. You don’t have to send it to the person. This also helps you to understand why are you angry in the first place and maybe give you some sense. It is possible that you are mad at the wrong person or there is actually no rational reason to lose your temper.
It is also wise to just, cool off. Relax for a moment and take deep breaths, go out if you have to, it is better to compose yourself and try to remain calm. Counting one to ten might be the oldest trick in the book but it helps in remembering our patience as well. This could also bring back your pressure and heart rate to the normal level. You could use humor to relax as well. Although difficult, you could try to recall positive memories and smile. Here’s a fact, a fake smile could help you become a little happier. Physical exertion or exercise is effective in releasing stress and taming your temper.
Lastly, accept that anger is a normal emotion. It has purpose and we feel it for a reason. Though overwhelming, don’t let anger be the motive for our actions and never let it get the best of us. We Are teachers, we are human, we feel and experience every emotion, but always keep in mind that we teachers, as modern day heroes taming our temper is just a small problem of everyday.
The author is Teacher II at
***** Escaler Elementary School/ Magalang North District