Emotions have a way of sneaking up on you. It’s easy to see how an unexpected interaction can leave you feeling flustered, frustrated, or angry, but when you stop to really see how these emotions affect you on a physical level, it’s eye-opening.

Take two scenarios:

Scenario 1: You are driving your teens to school on a regular Monday morning. In the first scenario, you leave the house five minutes early. Everyone is in a pleasant mood and you get to school on time, which means you get back home in time to get yourself ready for your day with a few extra minutes for yourself.

Scenario 2: You leave the house five minutes later than you’d like. You’re still on time, but you feel a bit stressed getting in the car, knowing that your kids already have a few lates on the record. You drive to school, and although you don’t comment on the time, you give off an anxious feeling that your kids pick up on. There isn’t much conversation in the car, which is probably better since your eyes keep darting from the road to the clock. You get to school just in the nick of time, but a little too close for comfort. As you drop them off, your mind begins to race to all of the things you need to do that day. That to-do list plays through your mind the entire ride home. Once you get home, those five minutes have already caught up with you.

Two different situations lead to different physical responses that impact not only you but the people around you. The next time you are in a situation like this, take note of how you feel. Do your shoulders tighten? Does your heart begin to race? Do you end up in the bathroom? How much emotion do you carry on your body, and how much do you hold within you?