Collective Rage Explained: How Anger Shapes Healing and Nervous System Awareness
This morning I woke up angry. An inner rage burning rather brightly. My sleep score was shit, my jaw was clenched, but my eyes pinged wide open with the alarm at 5:30am. Instantly awake, my morning grogginess was replaced with an instantaneous rage. ‘You know the saying, “they woke up and chose violence”? A ferocity I’ve only felt a few times in my life, chose me this morning and I decided to embody it.
Why? I have zero fucking clue. I didn’t go to bed angry. In fact, I fell asleep saying my prayers and doing breath work after reading a chapter from Dr Brian Weiss’s book, “Messages of the Masters”. Not exactly rage bait material.
If I am being completely honest, anger is not an emotion I’m generally comfortable with. I recognize it, try to evaluate the situation within that moment and then release or transmute that emotion as quickly as I can.
But, again… why?
Before you continue reading, know the following is from my own perspective. You may have a completely different perspective. Despite strong feelings, neither are gospel. I am generalizing societal norms we (Gen X/ Millennials) have grown up with.
Women are told from the moment we’re born to be palatable. “Stand up for yourself” was popularized more for us as a slogan to help us feel like we had power, but as soon as we did, we were told not to ruffle feathers, denied our autonomy, and had our experiences patronized. Anger, rage, ferocity were that of wayward women and a proper young woman did not have such feelings. We shoved those feelings down. We were supposed to present ourselves as “ladylike” despite having the inner urge to Daenerys Targaryen the world around us.
Growing up in the South, if anything, we were told to take that anger, slap a smile on our face, and say something bitey that only a handful of people would have the wit to understand. A Southern kiss-slap, as you will. The offender was left either unphased, felt complimented, or confused. Meanwhile we walked away, nails dug into our palms, TMJD, and an unexplained chronic inflammatory illness for life.
On the other hand, anger is one of the only emotions men are “allowed” to feel. “Men will be men.” “Boys will be boys.” “Just let them duke it out.”
What!?
If a man feels sadness, it makes them uncomfortable to the point of anger. Rage, even. Their feelings are hurt so they’re going to hurt yours. That is more culturally acceptable. Again, this is a generalization, I know there are outliers in each scenario. Men, in our societal setting, were told not to cry. Do not display sadness, it's weak. Soft. “Don’t be a wuss.” Empathy? That will get you figuratively eaten.
Being denied the capability to feel an emotion is…infuriating.
So here we are in 2026, inflamed, insane and pissed off. We’re only now learning about the impact and importance of nervous system regulation and the fact that “The Body Keeps Score”. We’re out here trying to raise children, heal ourselves, as well as generations of trauma, filter through all the bullshit, and stay hydrated while trying to sleep at least 8 hours a night.
Our world is crumbling. Not the people, but the systems. The people are pissed. The systems, the institutions, the programming that has kept us stuck in a self-sabotaging cycle, are ending…and they will not go silently or quickly.
So, what do we do? I don’t know…but I know my anger is not all my own. Violence, of course, is never the answer. Anger is the disruptor. It gets our mind’s attention and demands action. If we take our teachings from childhood and throw them on the dumpster fire that’s currently burning, we are left forced to feel that anger. Not bury it with a condescending smile, or physically harm the person next to us. What if…what if, instead we choose anger as a precursor to act in empathy? What if we recognized we are all connected, all different points of perception that make a whole picture?
What would that look like?
Love& Hugs,
Jenn