Blog Post #44: On Trusting Yourself

Hey all,

It’s been a few weeks! To tell you the truth, I have three existing drafts of this what’s supposed to be Blog Post #44 already. But I didn’t like any of them, so they’re all unfinished. Now, on a fairly random Monday, I’ve decided that I was forgetting the purpose of this blog- to simply write without worry. So here I am, once again.

I’ve been thinking recently about the concept of trusting yourself. It’s something I’m learning every day. Heck, I’m the person who once canceled a badspace booking in an all-women’s hostel reservation for an Airbnb simply because my friend thought living in a hostel with strangers could potentially be dangerous. Looking back I’m glad I booked the Airbnb, because it was nice to have a space all to myself for my first solo trip, but I’m using that example to make a point. Look, I care a lot about the opinions of others- especially my friends and family. 

But lately, I’ve been trying to find a little more trust in myself and my own judgement. To know that no matter what decision I make, a good outcome is possible.

Because the truth is, as much as we can discuss with other people, we can’t rely on other people to make our decisions for us. To begin with, they don’t know our whole life story. Only we do. 

I think the number one piece of advice I hear directed towards young women is to “trust your gut”. I wholeheartedly agree. Our gut is directly linked to our nervous system (ever heard of the gut-brain axis?)- so that even if you’re not sure about something, your body will usually tell you pretty quickly. I get stomachaches when I’m anxious. 

Although, there’s more to “trusting your gut” than meets the eye. I was talking to my therapist the other day, she brought up an interesting point. Our bodies usually have a good sense of what’s up (hence the phrase “trusting your gut”). But sometimes our nervous systems react to what it perceives as danger but isn’t actually dangerous. The important thing is to trust your gut, but also to question why you’re feeling a certain way.

Anyways, I’m out for today. Life is chaotic sometimes. I still take my pond-walks and my star-gawks. Knowing that under all the hustle and bustle is still just me, Laura, and the peace of a Sunday morning with nothing to do.