When something comes at me as a trigger,
it can actually give me self-awareness as I mature, and give me a chance to change my frame, and that can be a positive thing — so before jumping to an emotional judgment, I need a diagnosis.
Burnout, at the end, is energy leaking out. But there are two starting points. Energy leaks because the work doesn't fit you, or energy leaks because communication has broken down. In either case, a single team member has limits to what they can fix alone. System-level change is needed, but even as an individual you need to surface the issue at least once. The timing and the method require skill, though.
At this point you have to be able to see your own energy. You have to check first whether your energy can handle this. Otherwise, you become an easy target — "oh, you were that two-faced all along?" — and all the effort you've built up goes into the red. In the end, you must be able to gauge what state you're in, and whether you have the capacity to handle this.
Anger is a mode of communication reserved for people who truly matter. Anger is communication that also makes me pathetic. When you blow up, it feels like you're landing a blow on the other side, but in reality you just hand them an indulgence and sacrifice yourself once more. All you earn is a downgrade — "see, I knew you were that kind of person, always acting so nice."
With people who matter, the needed communication is: "I like such-and-such parts of you, but some things occasionally make me angry. I'll try too, but in the future I'd rather you didn't." With the 'consideration zombies' who don't deserve that, you need to get skilled at respectfully keeping them at arm's length — in your heart.
In business sales there's a saying: if you tell a joke and make people laugh, you feel capable and brave; if you can't make them laugh, you feel uncapable but brave. The key isn't whether you're good at jokes — it's that the people who laugh matter more than the people who try to make others laugh.
So, the conclusion:
if someone is triggering me, or I think the structure of my organization doesn't fit me, before anger
self-awareness first — see your positives, not your problems.
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Slow Days·말로만 듣던 마흔
Anger Is a Mode of Communication Reserved for People Who Truly Matter
This English version was translated by Claude.
