Chicago Is One Of The World’s Angriest Cities: How To Feel Better Now

With little surprise to many, Chicago was named as one of the world's angriest cities a few years ago by Men’s Health magazine. The magazine combined statistics for high blood pressure, traffic, speeding tickets, assault, and workplace deaths. Chicago came in eleventh. If you ask some Chicagoland citizens, you might get the impression that we’re actually first.

This survey poses an interesting question. Many of us aren’t able to move to a more relaxed city because of obligations to work and family. So how do we survive living in a place that is known for being an angry, stress-inducing environment?

Edit Your Life

The first step to feeling better is knowing which factors you can control and which you can’t. If you find yourself in an aggravating situation on a daily basis, you might have to make a serious effort to cut it out of your life. For example, if you absolutely hate your commute and find that it ruins your day several times a week, it might be time to consider switching either where you live or where you work to cut down on commute time.

Other factors are less rigid. If a certain subset of your friends frustrate you but you keep hanging out with them for some reason, make a conscious decision to either improve relations or get out of the friendship. There’s no reason to hang on to things that influence your life for the worse.

Stay Above It

Of course, there are also the things you can’t change about your life. With these, it’s important to come to terms with your situation and accept it as it is. At the same time, you should build some time in your day that is completely yours, when you can do whatever activity helps you decompress and recharge your batteries. Few people who get 30 minutes every day to do something they truly love, can say they’re unhappy with their life. Having this small block of time to yourself will help you prioritize aspects of the rest of your life, leaving you less angry and frustrated with modern urban existence!