You’re stuck in traffic.

You stub your toe on the coffee table.

You can’t find your keys and you’re running late.

When these little irritants happen to you… how do you react?

Do you maintain your composure and remain level-headed?  Or do you immediately fly off the handle?  Red face, breathing heavy, throwing things while colorful words fly out of your mouth?

Don’t worry, I’m not going to judge you if you fall into the latter category.  But I do want to warn you that it might be the sign of something bigger going on inside – both physically and emotionally.

When I was in the thick of adrenal fatigue, I had ZERO tolerance for stress.  Basically, my “flight or fight” response had gotten so blown out, that it had NO juice left for actual (or perceived) stressors.

If my dog took too long to go to the bathroom outside, I’d feel like I was going to lose my mind.  If I was running late, I felt like I was going to have a heart attack before I got there.  If I couldn’t find something I needed, I’d get MAD.  Immediately.  There was no warning or “ramping up.”

But that’s because my body was running on overload.

It had been too stressed for too long and it wasn’t getting enough of the things it needed – like restful sleep, proper nutrition, quiet time and meditation.  So my energy stores that I needed to deal properly with the stress were empty.  And the littlest thing would send me into flip-out mode.

So, what about you?

Have you been running on coffee and energy drinks for too long?  Masking the non-stop stress and pushing your body past its limits?

Or maybe you feel like you do eat well and get enough sleep, but you have emotional baggage that you’ve been “shoving down” for years – family issues, relationship issues, problems with self-esteem, lack of motivation or loneliness.  Surely, those feelings can’t have anything to do with how quickly you get angry, right?

Oh, yes they can.

When you take strong emotions like grief, worthlessness, loneliness, betrayal, rejection and abuse and continue to bury them inside without properly addressing them, they start to build up like a volcano.  And what happens when you poke at a live volcano?  It might just erupt.

But this isn’t how God meant for us to live.

In fact, Proverbs 16:32 says, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.”  And James 1:19, says, “This you know, my beloved brethren, but everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.”

That’s because anger is not a sign of strength and power.  It’s actually the opposite.  Anger is always the result of another emotion beneath it – be it sadness, fear, rejection or something else.  But when you are unable to deal properly with that underlying emotion, anger is what results.

But to be like Christ and live as God intended, we should be slow to anger, patient and even-keeled.

Sure, that may sound easier said then done.  But it all comes back to surrendering it to God.

He doesn’t want you trying to carry the heavy burdens – “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”  (Matthew 11:28).  He wants you to lay them at His feet, so He can bear the burden for you.

But you have to take the time to hand them over to Him.

Make your emotional and spiritual health a priority in your life – spending time in prayer, meditating and resting.  Dealing with your emotions instead of just ignoring them.

And take care of your physical health by getting proper rest and eating clean food.  And then watch what happens…

Your “hair trigger” might just stop being so trigger happy.