Feeling drained before a conversation even starts? Jay Shetty outlines five signs of chronic relational stress and practical ways to protect your energy. He explains how draining relationships can affect your body, mind, and sleep, even when the other person isn't cruel. Jay describes the mental preparation, emotional management, fixer role, self-shrinking, and replaying conversations that signal a relationship is costing you more than it should. For each sign, he offers concrete tools: pre-contact plans, handing back emotional responsibility, asking questions instead of giving advice, and a four-question recovery ritual. He also clarifies what healthy boundaries actually look like. A 2026 PNAS study linked each additional difficult person in someone's network to about nine months of added biological aging.