I’ve been a little quick to anger recently, but I’m trying to do something about it.

My fiancée left for a week-long trip to Jamaica Sunday morning. Instead of spending time together before she left, we both had busy weeks last week and weren’t able to see each other for more than an hour or so at a time.

So I was in a negative attitude for most of the weekend, which was already busier than most. By Sunday night, as I was getting ready for the week ahead, I didn’t feel like I had any sort of break at all. To top it off, I had spent a lot of time driving through the metro area and even downtown, and I almost always get stressed by drivers who I think are less than intelligent.

But on Sunday night I got a message: relax.

The sermon at church that night was about the idea of turning the other cheek, and about taking the bad and making good come of it. Before the service, a slip of paper was placed on each chair, and on those strips was written a situation that might make a person angry. On mine was “Someone cuts in front of you” – a very real problem that was making me angry while driving earlier that weekend.

After the sermon, we were told to place that slip in a passed basket and grab a new slip on which was written a command of how to deal with the stress. Mine said “relax.” I’ve been doing my best to relax ever since, but it isn’t easy. My first reaction when something bothers me is to get mad, to yell, or to at least complain loudly to anyone who will listen.

But I’m trying to relax.