Every now and then a motivational quote drifts across my Facebook feed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You always have a choice in how you respond.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I understand what they’re trying to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I’ve never quite believed it tells the whole story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If someone says something that really gets under my skin, I don’t first experience a calm, thoughtful moment of choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First comes the crocodile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His tail starts flicking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His magnificent teeth emerge from the reeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He has opinions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Strong ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Years ago I would sometimes let him speak before I’d had a chance to think. Sarcasm is a quick language, and the internet is an awfully efficient place to send it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These days something different happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The crocodile still appears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only now I hand him a toothbrush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He doesn’t always appreciate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While he’s busy polishing those splendid teeth, I take a breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes another one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More often than not, by the time he’s finished brushing, I no longer feel quite so certain that the internet needs to hear what he had planned to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve become better at that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The internet has actually helped me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once words are out there, they’re remarkably difficult to gather back again. You can’t put the toothpaste back into the tube. A sharp comment typed in thirty seconds can linger for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes I also think about people who are drinking when they’re online. Add a few drinks to an already irritated crocodile and… well… perhaps it’s best not to imagine the comment section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So yes, I’ve learned to pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What I haven’t learned is what happens to the anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People often celebrate self-control as though it’s the finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For me, it isn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s only the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The strange thing is that becoming better behaved hasn’t automatically made me peaceful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes the crocodile never bites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He never even growls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He brushes beautifully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But afterwards I can still feel something simmering quietly inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Years ago I came across a sentence that stayed with me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Depression is anger turned inwards.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n I don’t know whether that’s clinically true. Human beings are far more complicated than one sentence can explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I do wonder whether unexpressed anger has to go somewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps it doesn’t disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps it simply changes address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That makes me think of a pressure cooker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The steam isn’t dangerous because it exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s dangerous because it has nowhere to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe that’s the part our cheerful motivational posters sometimes skip over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Learning not to lash out is valuable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m grateful I’ve become better at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m genuinely proud of that small piece of growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But restraint isn’t the same thing as resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The emotional energy doesn’t simply evaporate because I’ve chosen not to press “Post.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m still learning what to do with the steam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t have any grand conclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only an observation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I’ve grown older, I’ve discovered that wisdom isn’t the absence of anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It isn’t becoming so enlightened that the crocodile packs his bags and moves to another swamp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He’s still there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He’s just developed excellent dental hygiene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And perhaps that’s enough for today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The post reflects on managing anger in the digital age, using the metaphor of a “crocodile” to represent unchecked emotions. While the author has learned self-control and the importance of pausing before responding, they acknowledge that restraining responses doesn’t eliminate underlying feelings. True growth involves understanding and channeling this emotional energy, rather than suppressing it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ai_generated_summary":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wpai_meta_description":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[43,45,44,49,47,48,46,50],"class_list":["post-216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fluff","tag-adversities","tag-anger","tag-crocodile","tag-emotions","tag-mindfulness","tag-personal-growth","tag-self-reflection","tag-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/webby.is\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webby-6a590db072777.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webby.is\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webby.is\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webby.is\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webby.is\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webby.is\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=216"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/webby.is\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220,"href":"https:\/\/webby.is\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions\/220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webby.is\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webby.is\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webby.is\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webby.is\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n