Resentment tends to build, and it lingers. We often to think of it as a feeling we have towards others.

A game changer for me this year was realizing that resentment isn’t a feeling toward anyone. It’s just something I’m experiencing.

One of the most frustrating aspects of my life right now is that I am getting mature enough to recognize negative feelings building up, but it is hard to find the mental and emotional space to deal with them in a healthy way because my bandwidth is being eaten up by other things.

Resentment has been a slow battle, but it is an area where I feel real progress has been made.

Unlike anger, resentment bubbles up so slowly that you can look at its ugly face as it slowly peeks out of its hole and tell it to get lost.

You might have to do that more than once.

The key for me was taking the feeling away from a person. Resentment is only dangerous when we point it at another human being.

Resentment primarily hurts the person hanging on to it, but directed at someone else, it can also undermine relationships. Cut the cord with it and don’t ever let it be a link between you and a person you care about.

That’s what is on my mind as I glance back on 2017 and look forward to 2018. Perhaps next year I’ll have made more progress with anger?