"There is some kind of a sweet innocence in being human - in not having to be just happy or just sad - in the nature of being able to be both broken and whole, at the same time."
-C. JoyBell C.

Lashing out is a incredibly easy and undoubtedly human thing to do. It relieves the pain of being hurt almost instantaneously, but inevitably it also continues the cycle of hurt and pain. It's no secret that this longing to cause harm to someone is hard to shake once provoked. How do we rise above it? How do we begin to resist the primal urge to severely damage someone's being without mentally reaching our own breaking points? How do we in this day and age of being so divided and angry do we begin to cope with these insanely powerful urges to attack?

We try and use a variety of coping mechanisms mostly. We hold it in (if we can even do that) and try to seek within ourselves the answers or life lessons that this situation may hold for us. Or maybe we turn to something else to distract us; Alcohol, drugs, gambling or just something to set us off from the track we truly wish to be on: being the better person and letting it go. Maybe it's making the choice to actually open up and tell someone about it so that we may enjoy a slight hint of satisfaction from knowing there's someone out there who has heard our painful cry. Either way, it's better than hurting the other person, right? Not letting them see how truly angered we feel or rejecting the opportunity to make a poise-filled reply that might quell their surprised reaction.

But sometimes we really do want to let it out. We relinquish every passionate thought or opportunity to release due to fear or respect for the person(s) involved. We want to be the better person, a beautiful person. We become less of what makes us human, but also less of ourselves. We need to remember that our own thoughts, emotions, ideas and feelings matter. They shouldn't be ignored, tucked away or bottled up inside, left to simmer for days on end until we finally are past the point of redemption. We need to learn to take care of our mental wellness and let it out in the open somewhere or we risk the chance of it never being heard and turning into a resentful mess of a person.

It's hard to decipher when the right time to do the best thing is. Most of us have a "now or never" grip on reality, but timing your reaction can help you to see clearer. Seeing the bigger picture is to know someone else has unequivocally also felt the same thing you're feeling. Someone else has wanted to explode their humanity out upon the table. Someone like yourself has wanted to make their humanity known and burst out into a fit of rage or sadness or resentment at someone who up until that point had just not got the message. Someone else has been like you and held it in. Someone else like you has suffered themselves to become "the better person."