Motivated to understand the possible factors and situations that may cause anguish and fear in teachers, the aim of my research is to analyse the perceptions of a group of teachers that works in a private school about their afflictions and the potential causes of these through discourse. From the verbalization of these perceptions, I try to understand what motivates suffering and how it affects our pedagogical practice, our visions about education and/or our interpersonal relationships with students, colleagues and school management. In order to do this, I turn to a diverse theoretical framework, which encompasses theoretical concepts on Applied Linguistics (Moita Lopes, 2006, 2013, Miller, 2013), Exploratory Practice (Allwright, 2006, Miller et al., 2008), Emotions (Zembylas, 2003, 2004, 2005; Rezende e Coelho, 2010; Palmer, 2012) and Appraisal System (Martin & White, 2005; Almeida, 2010; Vian Jr, 2009; 2010). Aligned with the qualitative-interpretative paradigm of research, with the contemporary perspective of Applied Linguistics and with the ethical-methodological perspective of Exploratory Practice, I present the analysis of some excerpts of a research talk (Araujo, 2014) that happened between four colleagues and me in an informal place. The results show that INSATISFACTION and INSECURITY (types of affects) predominate, demonstrating that part of our suffering comes from a dislike related to our professional functions and a fear of the school where we work, which we attribute to a marketing model of education. The data lead to the understanding that our view of education is at odds with that of the institution where we teach, making us act, many times, in contrary to our personal conceptions of education; however, we move on because of the affection we have for the students and because of the affection some of us have for this school.