How to Harness Justified Anger

Part 5

This is the final blog in my series about Harnessing Justified Anger. 

In this blog series I’m sharing with you the steps that I have found helpful and liberating when dealing with justified anger, as a way to help you to navigate difficult emotions and to inspire courageous action when it comes to the injustices that are plaguing our planet. 

Healthy anger is simply expressed in the moment, but what do you do with anger that builds over time and is justified?

If you cultivate the awareness, and self-validate without numbing, and manage to remain Present rather than Ego-driven, what’s the biggest obstacle to taking courageous action?

Fear.

You reach the final hurdle and you’re all ready to do something and Fear kicks in!

Fear of rejection, losing your job, or leaving the sanctuary of familiarity.  Fear of being wrong, being called out or ridiculed.  And fear that the outcome will be too big too handle, or nobody will respond at all and your daring move will have been for nothing.

So, your final hurdle is to notice fear, and deal with it. 

Admit it. 

You’re scared. 

We all get scared.

Once we admit that we’re scared, we can start to seek out ways to overcome the fear. 

How do you overcome fear?

Start by noticing all the ways that fear shows up, and name it for what it is.  All the procrastination and over-thinking is Fear in disguise.  All the loss of energy, and suddenly feeling like there’s something more important to deal with, is fear in disguise.

As you’ve read through these blog posts, you might have persuaded yourself that your Justified Anger isn’t justified at all, and that you’re not ready to take any action.  This is also about fear!  Your brain will make up all sorts of stories to avoid taking action.  Notice it.

Once you’re clear that it’s fear that you’re dealing with, you tackle fear by taking small positive steps. 

By asking for help. 

By connecting with other brave souls.  

Learning new skills. 

Trying something new.

Noticing and naming fear, and then committing to taking steps forward, will help you to learn to overcome it.

There’s one specific fear that I’ve noticed that deserves a special mention:  Fear of not being able to trust yourself. 

If you’ve not taken action before, do you trust yourself that you’ll take action now? 

Is there a part of you that doesn’t trust yourself to be objective, to not be unkind? 

Self-trust is complex, because if you’ve habitually cut yourself off from your feelings for a long time, you may have avoided courageous action many times before.  Or you may not trust that what you feel is real at all.

How do you build self-trust? 

By committing to taking tiny positive steps, to prove to yourself that you can trust yourself. 

Test out your feelings. 

Take small actions and see what happens. 

Speak truthfully and ask for what you need and notice what happens.  

Be curious. 

Don’t assume, ask.

You might have noticed we’re back round to awareness again (the first step) – and in truth everything I’ve shared in these blogs is a circular process.  The more aware you become, the better you will be able to trust yourself.

As I went through the process of creating my workshop and writing this blog, I was working through these steps myself.  I’ve been owning up to all the times I didn’t take courageous action because I was afraid.  By sharing this process I’m taking small steps forward, speaking up, being more visible.

You too can harness your Justified Anger in powerful ways.  The world needs courageous leaders right now, so let me know if this has inspired you and any questions that come up for you!

www.nicolaharkercoaching.com

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