Sometimes when I get upset I hold my breath. I sit there and hold it and don't even know it and then I breathe out and it's such a relief and I realize I've been holding my breath. Sometimes people ask me what's wrong because they hear me sigh heavily, and it's just that I've been holding my breath and letting all the air out.

I guess I do that in real life. When I have a problem -- like a big problem -- I hold it in until I can't breathe and it all comes flooding out. Sometimes that makes the problem sound worse than it is, just because it's been built up for so long.

I'm having a small problem that I'm holding in. It's not huge, but it seems like it's looming above me sometimes, more than I can handle at the moment. Maybe it'll go away if I just hold my breath long enough.

I also have major, major problem that I'm holding in, and I feel like when I exhale, the floodgates are going to open and someone is going to get really hurt. My lungs are burning and I'm ready to burst, but why waste my breath when you don't listen and, more importantly, you don't ever take me seriously?

The force behind this kind of an exhale doesn't leave a whole lot of room for diplomacy.