Type "A" Personalities Unite!

I haven't blogged in a few days largely because nothing of note has happened since my mullings concerning the beloved toothbrush (and some might argue that was not worth blogging about anyway); however, today I found a wonderful article about a new study out of the UC Santa Barbara that appears to prove what most of us "Type A" personalities have known for a long time, that our anger makes us better.

The study presents a possible link between a person's anger and their improved ability to reason. It shows that as people get angry, their ability to reason and make better decisions appears to improve. In addition to this casting new aspersions on the whole "temporary insanity due to catching my spouse cheating on me" argument, it also makes people take a whole 'nuther look at "hotheads."

I will be the first to admit that in the past, I have reacted poorly to certain situations, especially in the work environment. My reactions in many cases, while probably not "professional" per-se, were at least warranted and well reasoned (at least I thought so anyway). Others reacted just as poorly to my reaction and thus I was labeled a hothead and I feel innapropriately passed over for possible promotions.

To those people, I would simply like to say, "How do you like me now?"

How does it feel to have overlooked someone who probably had the capacity to sort out problems better than "little Miss Mouse" whom you awarded the job to? How does it feel to think that instead of having a well-reasoned bulldog, you instead got a butt-kissing "yes man" who only did what he or she was told rather than actually considering what was best for the company?

Oh sweet revenge...

Now, obviously this study has its flaws, most notably being the inability to measure a person's level of anger against their ability to reason. At what point does a person go from suitably irritated yet still intelligible, to seeing red and reacting blindly? Having experience both levels of rage, I can unequivocally state that there IS a huge difference, and it is each person's ability to see through the anger that keeps them out of jail and walking the streets a free man (or woman).

For now though, I'm going to revel in my anger. I'm going to yell at people from the safe confines of my truck as I traverse Atlanta traffic. I'm going to mentally squish the lady at the checkout who waits until all her groceries are bagged before she starts writing her check, and I'm darn sure going to demand (in my mind) that my boss give me a raise because we both know that I deserve it.

Of course, all this will probably cause me to have an aneurysm on the way to my beach vacation and I'll die long before my time. But that's ok because at least I'll know that during my short time on earth, I was right all along!