A guy in a big SUV was tailgating me when I was overtaking 2 long vehicles and it pissed me off. So I wouldn't get off the lane afterwards. He kept tailgaiting and honking his horn for 5 mins even tho I was way over the speed limit. Then he cut me off and almost caused me to crash. So I gave him the finger. He got furious and drove next to me and pulled on his shirt to show me he was wearing a police badge and he mouthed 'I'm going to fuck you'... Yeah, I pissed off the wrong guy this time.
Every time someone is power tripping or pushing me/others around I lose it and incur their wrath.
What can I do to remove myself from this destructive cycle?
supernice wrote
Try to keep at the forefront of your thoughts "this is not worth my stress". You've got more valuable things to spend your energy on.
It's hard to change your ways, it takes time. Really if you think about it, in the end your resistance to this asshole is not going to change anything. He's still going to be an asshole. He'll mess with the wrong person one day and get what's coming to him. It's inevitable.