‘Cause If Ya’ Know, Ya’ Know — A “Gut Instinct” Guide

I previously wrote about the difference between intuition and anxiety (i.e., when to trust your intuitive feelings around a situation vs. when anxiety is overshooting the mark a little), but what even is a “gut feeling”? Do you know when you’re experiencing one? Do you lean in and listen, or do you shy away from it? Let’s dig a lil’ deeper —

What is a “gut feeling”?

This might seem obvious; but a “gut feeling” is actually somewhat hard to describe. It’s one of those feelings you just get, and you don’t usually even know why, or where it came from — but it tends to be pretty much all-consuming, to be frank, and it often can emotionally hijack your plans.

Picture this: you walk into a room full of people, do the standard meet-and-greets, and something immediately feels off about someone you interact with. You don’t know why this person makes you feel some-type-of-way, but they do. That, my friends, is a “gut feeling,” and it can be jarring, frankly.

As I wrote previously, sometimes it’s maybe just your anxiety projecting a false narrative based on a bad experience from the past — that’s a valid question to ask yourself, after all — but what about when it’s not a façade, and you genuinely know something is off?

That, besties, is when you trust your gut.

When to trust your gut

You’ve realized something is definitely off, and you’re 99.9% sure you aren’t “overreacting” or missing the mark; so you gotta’ go what you gotta’ do.

First of all, remove yourself from the situation if you can. If you’re in a place where you feel genuinely unsafe or just generally uncomfortable, you have the right to excuse yourself. If you aren’t able to leave (maybe it’s a “have to do this” type of situation), you aren’t powerless.

You can refuse to engage with someone who’s activating a trigger for you, for one — to see a great example of this, check out the way Ariana Madix recently handled an awkward moment with her toxic ex Tom Sandoval in this season’s Vanderpump Rules finale! You can also engage with them if you have to (i.e., if someone is being aggressive or continues to approach you), but tell them exactly how you feel and set a firm boundary — try saying something like, “You can’t speak to me like this, so this conversation is over.” Last but not least, you can re-evaluate if you really have to be in this situation. There’s great power in just knowing when to walk away, and sometimes removing yourself from a situation you don’t feel good about is the best option overall.

You’re more perceptive than you know

Trust your gut, besties. It doesn’t lie. We’re naturally more perceptive than we often give ourselves credit for, so if something doesn’t feel right, trust that feeling. Because, again… when ya’ know, ya’ know.

Xoxo,

MM.