I Want To Hit You (Real Friggin' Hard!)

If you’ve been in the workforce for longer than 19 minutes, you’ve worked with someone you want to hit.  Badly.  And, hard.

Real friggin’ hard!

I have a running list from past jobs myself.

However, today’s focus of my anger is Jim.

Jim was particularly difficult to get along with.  And, in someone’s infinite wisdom, they chose Jim to lead an entire department of people with pre-existing anger issues.  Myself among them.

Jim had no tact.  He had no empathy.  And, he had no class.  Jim was easy to dislike.

Jim also had another unfortunate quality: he had a highly hit-able face.  Lots of people wanted to hit him just because of how he looked.  He never helped himself when he opened his stupid mouth either.

Lucky for me, I started boxing around the time that moron Jim entered my life.  Boxing allowed me a perfect outlet for my frustrations.  

Beyond being a fantastic workout that left me exhausted, boxing allowed me to hit things.  Repeatedly.  And hard.

Real friggin’ hard!

The better I got at boxing, the harder I could hit.  I was one of the smaller and older guys in the boxing gym.  But, I was told that I could hit hard. 

After awhile, nobody needed to tell me I could hit hard.  Because I could see that I hit hard by the look on other people’s faces.

That idiot Jim lucked out.  I never totally lost it and hit him.  I did play some vindictive pranks on him.  I did make his life more difficult every chance I got.  And, I did clench my fists in anger at him several times.  

But, I maintained my self-control enough as to not break his nose (though, honestly, sometimes I regret this…)

Why do I tell you all this?

Everyone has frustrations.  And, the more people you work with, the more frustrations you likely have.  That tends to be how it goes.

Before you let those frustrations boil over, and you end up hitting your “Jim” in the face, consider trying a more proactive approach.

Cardio Kickboxing could be a fantastic way to rid yourself of this negative energy AND get in great shape.

One student in the Cardio Kickboxing classes has an extremely frustrating job.  Beyond getting to work those frustrations out on the heavy bag (and sometimes me), she has also lost over 50lbs in the past year!  Just by hitting things.

That is amazing!

You could also give Karate a try.

In Karate classes, we’re always hitting, kicking, kneeing, or elbowing things.  Sometimes it’s each other.  Sometimes it’s the heavy bag.  And, sometimes it’s imaginary enemies all around us.

We don’t worry about looking stupid because we’re all doing the same thing.

The idea behind our Karate training is building a strong mind in addition to a strong body.  It takes time, but progress is consistent.  And, there is an amazing crew to train with!

So, before you call me to bail you out because you slugged Jim (or Suzy, or Dan, or Karen, or whoever…)

Give one of these other options a shot.  

If you hate it, no big deal.  You didn’t lose anything for trying.

But, if you love it, you will have a healthy outlet for life.