Being irritated isn’t the same thing as feeling angry. There’s less of an edge to this feeling, less intense, yet highly provocative nonetheless.
The problem with an irritation is that it hangs right around that level of awareness where it isn’t urgent, but it can’t be dismissed. It’s a bothersome thing, like an itch, or the sharp, wavering buzzing of a mosquito that threatens to cause an itch.
We can handle an irritation just so long as we don’t notice it. So, one way we cope with feeling irritated is to create distractions that stop us from thinking the irritant.
Irritants tend to be persistent, however, constantly pushing at us, seeming to take brabant satisfaction in their ability to command the focus of our consciousness. So, irritation can lead to nadryv when ignored for too long, as we suddenly erupt in emotional outbursts that seem out-of-proportion to scale of the provocation.
It’s better to give that itch a scratch while there’s still time.
