The Vulnerability of Joy

This week on ShrinkChicks, Em and Jen talk about why joy and anxiety often show up together, especially when something good is happening. When positive moments arrive, the nervous system can start scanning for what might go wrong, making it hard to fully relax or enjoy the experience. They explore why happiness can feel vulnerable, why some people try to dampen joy to avoid disappointment, and how anxiety can act as protection against potential loss. Listener questions cover guilt about feeling happy when others are struggling, the fear of “jinxing” good things, worst-case thinking during positive moments, and why intense joy can sometimes trigger tears or tension instead of pleasure. The conversation also looks at practical ways to help your nervous system stay present during good experiences, how healthy caution differs from anxiety hijacking the moment, and how to hold both gratitude and uncertainty at the same time. Tune in to gain insight, awareness, and action! PS: Fast forward to around 7 minutes to skip the intro and get straight to today’s content. ⁠ Get Matched With One of Our Therapists ⁠ at The Therapy Group! ⁠ShrinkChicks on Instagram⁠ Our ⁠Know Yourself Grow Yourself Journal⁠ !! Check out ShrinkChicks on YouTube by subscribing here! ⁠ A special thank you to this week's sponsors for supporting ShrinkChicks! We have these exclusive offers for our listeners: Skims: Shop Everyday Cotton, and all of our favorite bras and underwear at Air Doctor: Head to AirDoctorPro.com and use promo code SHRINKCHICKS to get UP TO $300 off today Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at Shopify.com/shrinkchicks Perelel: New customers can use code SHRINKCHICKS to get 20% off their first order at perelelhealth.com/shrinkchicks . Quince : Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠quince.com/shrinkchicks⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping and 365-day returns on your next order GreenChef: Head to Greenchef.com/50shrinkchicks and use code 50shrinkchicks to get 50% off your first month, then 20% off for two months with free shipping See Privacy Policy at and California Privacy Notice at .

You can listen to The Vulnerability of Joy online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Vulnerability of Joy is an episode from ShrinkChicks by Jennifer Chaiken, LMFT and Emmalee Bierly, LMFT.

This episode is 00:36:57 long.

This episode was published on Apr 6, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from ShrinkChicks when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.