Do you want to know why? I'll tell you why!

“Those idiots! They’re letting her build up a head of steam!” Fred or George Weasley, the twins in the Harry Potter books, said something like this on overhearing their mother tearing someone a new one.

There comes a point in every mother’s rant where she just switches on the autopilot and lets things rip. When the rhetorical questions start being asked, you’d better not try to answer them. You’d better just hunker down and get ready for the storm that’s about to break over you.

Hamlet had his soliloquy. Mom has her rhetorical questions. Neither asked for nor needed a response. Both needed to let go and vent.

Know what? The storm itself never lasts too long. Do you know why psychiatrists schedule 50-minute sessions? It is impossible for us to maintain the intensity of our emotions for longer than this. Really. You can try it for yourself, if you feel the need to let it all hang out. You’ll feel wrung out like a sponge—and refreshed.

You might want to warn your loved ones not to interrupt you, though. And do you want to know why? I’ll tell you why …