While most of us can easily identify whether we tend to be more passive than aggressive, or vise-versa, we may also find that we have a tendency to be passive in certain situation and aggressive in others. A man who is afraid to stand up to his boss, whom he perceives to be a bully, can then come home and he himself then acts the bully. Closely allied to this is where someone who is passive by nature is unconsciously storing up a lot of repressed anger. A very small straw can then break the camel’s back that has become overloaded. This is where a mild and gentle person lets fly and appears to lose the plot over something quite trivial. They appear to be now using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. What has been repressed for months, or even years, bursts its banks leaving the recipient of the onslaught bewildered and often very hurt.