Just relax and calm down

[TheChosenTwo]

This must be the most infuriating phrase to hear when you think you’re holding everything together and doing your best to remain calm and appear relaxed.
obviously not doing as good a job as i thought because dh just said this phrase to me as I got home 😂
Arghhhh it wound me up so much I left the room and sat on my own in the garden with an ice lolly for half an hour!
Does this piss anyone else off? (I know it just must do!)

Yes@TheChosenTwo
It is a very dismissive thing to say to someone which is what causes me to NOT calm down!

Exactly! I was actually feeling quite calm and composed but he could clearly see right through me and thought this would help.
WRONG 😤

Nobody in the history of the world has ever calmed down as a result of being told to calm down.

Yanbu! the words "calm down" do not calm me down and in fact do the exact opposite

There has to be a name for this phenomenon where being told to calm down flicks a switch. I can't think of anything else where the same the effect happens in quite the same way

If there's one thing guaranteed to make me do the opposite of calm down it's someone telling me to calm down.

I work with children and I would never tell anyone to relax and calm down!
Essentially I talk them through their feelings in order to calm them down a bit but I’d never just say, ‘calm down’ - it’s like a red rag to a bull!