Intuition..You Should Trust Your Gut

“Going with my gut has never led me astray, because I make it my mission to be in tune with myself”

I am a firm believer that a person should always follow their instincts. I don’t just mean “don’t run into that haunted house” instincts or “don’t eat that strange berry in the wild” instincts, two scenarios which I actually have never found myself in. What I do know is that I have never been in a situation where going with my gut has steered me wrong. I have however, had plenty of experiences where doing the exact opposite of that gut feeling has landed me in a whole lot of trouble. So much trouble in fact, that I am not quite sure which example to give.

The problem is most times when I have not gone with my gut the outcome, and quite frankly the story, is so agonizing to tell I don’t have the heart to let anyone read it.

Most consist of me trusting people even though deep down I know they aren’t shit, others include me making the wrong turn at a stop sign and ending up being 30 minutes away from my destination. I think I will just list all the results of not going with my gut below:

Grounded for like 4 months

Getting lost in my neighborhood

Getting lost in my building

Vomiting.. a lot of vomiting

Mono

Almost getting fired

Getting jumped

3 pregnancy scares (although that might be a result of anxiety and dramatics) 

Terrible haircut

Missing out on a field trip 

Not talking to my best friend for 6 months

Missing out on going abroad

Missing out on joining organizations

Not graduating on time

Job opportunities

Terrible sex

Great sex with the wrong person

Stubbing my toe.. twice in one day

Letting one of my co workers allow me to cry

Almost slapping the fuck out of my a server at my job 

Getting on the wrong train 

Getting blocked

hooking up with someone with an ankle monitor — the day he got it on

Bar fight (that I did not start by the way)

Laxative abuse

Currently drawing a blank, but there’s a lot more. And most of these offenses listed above have occurred more than once.

What I realize is that the less confidence I had in myself the more likely I was to choose opposite of my gut feeling. 

It was like I didn’t trust my own judgment. Which essentially made zero sense, because the person who knows me  best is me. 

I found myself entertaining guys who deep down were fishy or off, and I would ignore that feeling every time. And all it got me was a punch in the face, or getting choked, or a broken relationship, or loss of money somehow,  always lost money. I would allow someone into my life because they looked great on paper, even though deep down I knew something was off. This includes friendships as well, sometimes you allow people to get to know you, become part of your life who truly don’t deserve it. Sometimes I would not speak up or give my opinion, because I feared the reaction of others more than the result myself. In the end all that left me with was a pit in my stomach and regret.

Going with your gut means you respect your opinion, it means that your intuition is a good ethic marker, that you trust your moral code. The outcome may not always necessarily be much better when going with that little feeling inside, but it has to be better than completely disagreeing with yourself.

I have learned, slowly, to have much more pride in myself, and focusing less on the opinions of others. When it comes to decisions, you can ask for advice, but don’t forget to take into account what that little voice in your head is saying.  Stop being so consumed if what someone else might choose, or better yet expect you to choose. 

I think it gets easier the more a person finds themselves, which is a long journey, but gets a little easier with time.