I was raised to speak my mind, and, I do. My problem is tempering my responses, especially to other women. The lady who has the eternal maternal mother syndrom, who treats her adult children and husband like children, I always struggle with not opening my big mouth and saying "What are you thinking?"
As for my emotional state, that I can usually control. I learned how to when I worked with all men in corporate america. I had to stand nose to nose with them, and, take a non emotional approach to my job, and, as the years went by, it became part of my personal life too. Really don't know if that is good or bad, but, it is what it is.