Concerning rage....there’s a lot of us middle-aged, white people out there who are mad because WE are being made out as the ultimate villain by certain sections of society and WE’RE tired of it. We see the news and what we view as a bias and injustice against us and it enrages us. Constant boiling anger produces high blood pressure, which is a huge cause of heart attack and stroke. Couple that with a lifestyle that isn’t the healthiest...and you have a problem.
As for despair...a lot of people my age are looking around at society, the state of the world, and their own sphere of influence and they realize...things are NOT going to get better. If you’re in a position where you’re approaching your mid-50’s, you find that you’re under-or-un-employed, and you also come to realize that no one wants to hire you (no matter how hard you try) for a better position BECAUSE you’re a 50-ish white male...that can tend to make one fall deeply into despair.
John Steinbeck once wrote, “A sad soul will kill you far quicker than any germ.”
Amen! Repressed rage will kill you sooner or later but if you express that rage then you have real problems.
I have seen a lot of relatives and friends dying in their 40’s and 50’s, a ton of them from cancer, which I think is stress related.
I have found the only things that help me are hard physical labor and working out. I am in my 60’s now and am getting in the best physical shape that I can so that I can handle whatever may come my way.