And what do the Voices tell you?

I was having a day.

Ever have one of those? It's nothing terrible, really. And you recognize it, you do. You know that your reactions are just a wee bit overblown, your feelings are just a teensy bit overwrought, your voice is just a note too shrill. You know it. And yet....

I knew it, too. I could hear the Voice Of Sanity in my head, letting me know that I was having a day, but sadly the day continued. The Hideous Emotional Cow who was rampaging through my brain was confronted by the Voice Of Sanity.

"Hey, HEC, how's it going?" VoS asked.

"Horrible! Hideous! Just like me!!" HEC shrieked, high drama punctuated by a storm of hysterical weeping.

"Mmm." A careful pause. "Do you think you might be a little overemotional right now?"

A dangerous silence ensued. "What are you saying, VoS?"

VoS brightened, happy to be asked. "Well, if we look at this logically, we can see there's no rational---"

And that's when the beating happened. VoS, although logical, has a terrible sense of timing. And frankly, when HEC is on a roll, there's no good time to use the L word. No, not love, silly. Logic.

I could blame hormones for HEC's ridiculous behavior, I could. But I refuse to believe that I'm a victim to my emotional tempests or chemical huricanes. Sure, we all have visceral reactions to the world, but I don't think we have to stay in that reactive place. We can feed that beast or we can starve it. Right?

Now, if only I could apply this attitude to my job.