Welcome back to another episode of the Anxiety Slayer podcast. I'm Shan Vanderleek here with my friend and co-host Ananga Severe. And today we're

speaking about whether or not anxiety is contagious. Welcome to another episode of Nanga.

Hey, Shan. Always good to share time with you and cover topics of interest to our listeners.

Yeah, we've been asked before whether anxiety can be passed down in families, whether it can

be hereditary, but this is a new topic. Can anxiety be contagious?

And the answer is, absolutely.

Those of us who live with anxiety tend to be quite sensitive.

We're sensitive souls.

We're empathetic and we're very much open to the experience and emotions of others.

And when we're in balance, we're excellent listeners, caring friends, and we know how to practice self-care and not take on more than we can handle.

But there is a challenge, isn't there?

Yeah, the challenge for sensitive people is that we can become easily overwhelmed by our

environment or by the moods and emotions of those

around us and the media, those who are empathetic can soak up atmospheres and moods

and the experiences of others like a sponge. And when we feel overwhelmed, our resilience is

reduced and outside anxiety starts affecting us.

It starts leaching in more and more.

So in that sense, anxiety is very contagious.

And sometimes when we soak up anxiety from others, it's not that we're helpless.

It's that we need to notice and take action to regain our boundaries

or our buffer in that case. If you've ever been in a situation where you've walked in the room

and the energy, you can just feel how heavy it is. You can feel the discomfort. And you might not even know

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