Heather, behavior is the result of a person’s values and believes. It also influences and impacts your attitude. As you mention you felt tension after acting contrary to how you really felt after receiving a job promotion. This brought discomfort to you while at the same time you internally justified your behavior. What you experienced is something that causes uncomfortable cognitive dissonance for an undesirable action. The more you felt responsible for your family and the life style that you needed to provide, the more your attitude changed toward something that was thought of as an accomplishment but turned out to be a circumstance that interfered with your thoughts and
