Being visually minded, I imagined the other day that my emotions are like balloons of air. One thing that goes wrong though,is that if I don't express the emotion, and the balloon is floating around me, it can get "fed" more air by thoughts which I might irrationally connect to a balloon or emotion.
Having outlets is a good idea to "deflate" or allow me to feel "disarmed" in some sense. Sometimes I feel I have too many emotions unexpressed.
A strange thing that happened at a doc's office was that I started speaking to the secretary, for a change. She was quite chatty, and I felt so much tension was released, since I usually sit and stew. I don't have many people I talk to.