I did not know that I had any anger control problems until I was required to take anger management worksheets and fill them out at work. It wasn’t part of the standard program, although at the time I thought it was. You see, our boss was carefully screening people based on psychological profiling. I work in a very high stress field, and my coworkers routinely burn out and even occasionally become aggressive. Getting anger counseling and stress anxiety treatment for people in need of it before things got too late was just a matter of common sense. Besides that, our insurance company demanded it.

What I didn’t know was that the anger management worksheets and I have been asked to fill out meant that I was already believed to have anger issues. We had multiple screening problems – one for general purpose profiling of the workers, a second one for people who raised red flags, and a third one designed to get help for those who the boss already knew needed it. I was in the second group – I had shouted at some coworkers a few times in the past month, and generally been a stress case.

I don’t know what I said in those anger management worksheets that the experts found so alarming, but the first thing I knew I was in an anger control program. I knew that controlling anger had been a problem with me when I was younger, but I didn’t realize that it still was. Apparently, however, I’ve seen as somewhat of a ticking time bomb. In the program I was in, I could get some help before it was too late.

The program was not what I had expected. It was actually pretty hands-on, and very practical as well. Basically, they taught me a lot of anger release techniques that I could use when I got mad. It started with the classic count to 10 approach, but it built up to much more sophisticated ideas. By the end, I felt like an old pro. I knew how to control my emotions almost as well as some yogi from the east!

If you are nervous about filling out anger management worksheets in your workplace, don’t be. It can be kind of scary to have your boss trying to peer inside your head, but ultimately it can help to. An anger management worksheet can be the first step to getting the support you need.