Trusting My Gut

I have a bad habit of questioning my gut. I think we are all given the gift of our gut instinct. Likely its original purpose was for protection and self-preservation, and while it sometimes still is, gut instincts are capable of so much more. I can’t remember if I’ve used this reference before, but the first thing that comes to mind when I think of an analogy for gut instinct is Captain Jack Sparrow’s compass in Pirates of the Caribbean. For anyone not familiar, Captain Jack Sparrow has a compass in the movies that points toward whatever the person holding it wants most. While gut instinct is great for avoiding negative or even dangerous situations, it is just as good at pointing towards desires and, in my opinion, an ideal life path.

Despite my confidence in the purpose of gut instincts, I’m not the best at listening to my gut. I’ve unfortunately had several instances in my life of people leading me to believe that my gut instinct was incorrect or broken. Between that and staying in questionable at best, abusive at worst relationships, I concluded that I couldn't trust my gut. After a while, I got better and better at not listening to my gut, and it turns out that’s difficult to undo. Learning to trust my gut again took a lot of work and a lot of proof that it was leading me to safe places. While I now have that trust back, I’ve found that trusting my gut and listening to it are very different.

The analogy I’ll use for this part is hearing advice versus taking it. I’ve often received great advice from friends or family but don’t always act on it. Even if I do, it is likely not immediately. I do the same thing with trusting and listening to my gut. I understand what it is pointing me toward, but taking action to move in that direction can take some more time. I’m not entirely sure why that is. The only thing I can think of is that my gut pushes me outside my comfort zone. It feels like my gut is confident in my abilities long before my brain gets on board.

I’m hoping to get to a place where I’m listening to and acting on my gut instincts more in the moment instead of sitting on it and overthinking it for months on end. I owe it to myself to do that work after so many years of ignoring my natural compass. I’m apprehensive because I know that would mean operating outside my comfort zone much more often than I currently am. Despite that fear, I think growth happens outside of comfort zones, and doing that more often will ultimately be a positive experience. What kind of relationship do you have with your gut? Do you trust it? If so, do you listen to it?