This is not a picture of me...but yeah, I do scream like that sometimes. My poor cat hides when I'm in that kind of mood.

Whenever someone says they’re mad, I always think to myself, “Hm…mad-angry or mad-insane?”

Often, for me at least, it’s a little of both.

If you’re here on After Graduation, chances are that you fall into one of three categories: 1) You’re currently job hunting or finishing up school and will soon be job hunting, 2) You’re unhappy in your career and want to make a change, or 3) You’re hoping to continue growing in your career path, either by building your business or learning to enjoy/get better at your job. Or, you might be in that fourth group - the group who just doesn’t know what to do in life and is looking for some answers. That’s okay too!

No matter what category you fall into, chances are that you also get MAD sometimes. And today, I’m here to tell you that’s okay.

It’s frustrating to not hear back about a job interview or to have to wake up every morning to go to a job you hate or to not be advancing in your career as quickly as you’d like to be doing so. Yet, we’re expected to keep our heads down and stay focused, just plowing ahead as best we can all while having a shit-eating grin on our faces. It’ll get better, they tell us. Just do your best and you’ll eventually succeed, they tell us. Stay positive, they tell us.

YOU STAY POSITIVE! I’M GOING TO SCREAM!

You know what? It’s okay. Because sometimes this process sucks. Hard. It’s okay to get mad-angry, wondering why you can’t catch a break for once. It’s okay to get mad-insane, thinking that you’ll go nuts if things don’t change soon. I’ve been there. Hell, I still am there sometimes.

GET MAD.

What’s not okay is to bottle it up, lying to yourself that you’re happy when you’re not. Because you know what? We all have a breaking point. If you bottle up your mad feelings, you’ll eventually snap…and snapping is never pretty. Instead, let it out as you feel it. Scream into a pillow. Punch something, preferably something non-living and soft so you won’t break it or your hand. Scribble on a piece of paper. GET MAD.

Then, channel that energy into a task - go for a run, take a swim, mow the lawn, shovel some snow, whatever. Do something physical while you’re mad. Even if you just walk around the block a few times - do it. This part is important. Why? Because you may not suddenly feel happy again when you’re done, but you will feel better. At least, I always do. When I get back from an “angry jog” as I like to call them, I sometimes still feel crappy, but it’s a more manage feeling. I’m not at risk of exploding anymore.

When you manage your anger (and insanity!), you can be a more focused and productive person overall. Bottled feelings that are building in us make us do crazy things sometimes, like pick a fight with our coworkers, rant about our bosses on public forums like Twitter, or quit our jobs suddenly without any kind of plan. These feelings, unchecked, make us destroy things because “we aren’t getting anywhere anyway.” They make us lose business because we’re snippy with clients or customers. They make us send crap cover letters.

Don’t let the madness consume you. Acknowledge, deal with it, and move on to bigger and better things.