I’m lashing out at work

I’m really struggling with controlling my emotions at the moment. I’ve broken down twice at work over something that wasn’t major and also lost my temper with colleagues. I don’t know why. I’m an emotional person and can let rip at home but not usually at work. I could lose my job if this continues.

You don’t mention your age so this might not apply to you. Sometimes, when we behave in an unexpected way, it’s related to our hormones, especially if we are perimenopausal or menopausal. If you think this is the case, visit your GP. That said, hormones are not an excuse for bad behaviour!

There are a number of things we can do to control our emotions.

Try one of these and see how it goes – there’s no one-size-fitsall when it comes to managing ourselves.

If you feel like you’re out of control, stop and take three deep breaths and count to 10.

Become aware of how you feel. Accept that these are your feelings and then choose your reaction as this will engage your head and the emotions will feel less strong.

Ask yourself why you’re reacting this way. Really consider this even if you don’t like the answer that comes to mind! The more we explore our thinking, the better we can understand it.

Get up and move about. Smile because that changes the chemicals in our body.

Make sure you’ve had enough sleep and that you’re eating well.

Share how you’re feeling with others

– I think you’ll be surprised how many other people feel emotional, too.

Keren welcomes your letters, emails and texts, but she cannot reply to individual cases and will select correspondence at random for publication.