Why You Might Be Carrying Emotions That Aren’t Yours—and What to Do About It

It took me longer than I’d like to admit to realize I was picking up other people’s emotions like a lint roller collects dust. I’d walk into a room feeling just fine and leave 90 minutes later feeling irritable, tense, or inexplicably drained. For a while, I chalked it up to being sensitive or introverted. But eventually, I came across the concept of emotional contagion, and the lights turned on.