The Angry Gal's Guide To Cancelled Plans

Hey loyal readers, I'm super excited to tell you all that I'm starting a new series on my blog today! This week's edition is called The Angry Gal's Guide to Cancelled Plans, because the truth is girls get angry, frustrated, and sometimes react in ways that aren't so flattering. So when anxiety, angry, stress, etc hits you it's hard to not totally lose your cool. This series will go through a variety of situations and ways to handle them that will hopefully make you feel better rather than worse.  Let me know what you think in the comments below!

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You're all dressed and ready for a night with your boyfriend, best friend, whoever when you get that text that says,"sorry can't make it". Just like that your chest tightens, breath becomes shorter, and that pit in your stomach begins to grow. Heat swells inside of you and suddenly you're hyperventilating and pacing around your room trying to keep your cool. Either you collapse on the floor in tears of frustration, or you are ready to punch a hole in the nearest wall.

Before you send a text you'll regret or break your hand, try out these three tips:

Breath: Before you totally lose your mind and either injure yourself or totally freak out your family, roommates, or whoever happens to be standing nearby, just breathe. Take a second and concentrate all of your energy on regaining your steady breath. Block out any images or nasty thoughts from your mind and just concentrate on breathing. Create a soothing mantra and repeat it to yourself. I tend to say something as simple as "it's okay". Just reminding yourself that everything is fine and you're not in any danger can be really grounding. 

Don't Dwell On It: Don't think too hard about why your plans fell through if it will only increase your anger. Remind yourself that things happen and plans change. Try to think of an instance where you would want to change your plans, regardless of the other person's feelings. Think of the most selfish, yet satisfying reasons why you might want to cancel your plans. It could be something as simple as staying in and watching Netflix, or hanging out with your girlfriends. Even if you would never cancel your plans for something like that pretend to be selfish for just a moment. 

Regroup and Rally: Forget about those plans you made and those people and think about what you want to do. You have the entire night to yourself, what will you do with it? Will you call up a different friend? Will you binge watch an entire season of OITNB on Netflix? Read a good book? Write for your blog? Maybe even go to bed early? You may be surprised by what you decide to do with all of this new found free time! 

Hopefully, you can do this all before things get totally out of hand, but if you can't remember you're not alone. It's totally okay to be emotional and disappointed when things don't go the way you planned, but remember that this isn't the end of the world. Tomorrow you will wake up and it'll be a whole new day. Because in reality, what's just one night in? It can be absolutely awful if you dwell on it, but if you come up with a plan B it could be a much needed night of relaxation.

Warning: Be careful not to send any super angry text messages and don't make any desperate phone calls. If you have to, turn your phone on silent and hide it on the other side of the room to reduce temptation to start any arguments (especially with your significant other). If you wake up the next day and you're still mad at them and you want to talk about it then, that's totally fine as long as it's not over text. It can be really hard to control your anger, but if you refrain from acting on impulse it doesn't have to ruin any relationships.

I used to think that I was alone in this crazy, emotional breakdown, but the truth is it is totally normal. To some extent, we all get upset when we're let down. What sets us apart is the degrees to which we get angry. For some of us, we're a little disappointed but can bounce back quickly, and for others the world seems to end. No matter who we are, we all experience anger and frustration.

What would you do in this situation? Has this ever happened to you?