How to Figure Out Your Life: A Gut Check

Don’t deny it. We’re all trying to figure ourselves out. Whether it’s every day or just ever so often, we’ve all found ourselves asking these kind of questions: What makes me happy? What do I want to do for the rest of my life? Am I on the right path? Yaddah, yaddah, yaddah.

Let’s get real. I can’t answer those questions for you.

I will say this, though. I have a hunch that may help.

Get to know your gut.

You know what I’m talking about. Have you ever just been like, “I don’t know… I just have a feeling” ? Of course you have. 

It’s called your intuition. Housed in your gut and tied to your heart, your intuition knows more about you and what you want than you’re even consciously aware of.

So weird, right?

If you give it a chance, your intuition can have a huge impact on your life. You just have to be open to being influenced by your feelings, as weird and unexplainable as they may seem.

I know that’s easier said than done.

The reason it’s difficult to follow through with your gut feelings is because they’re intangible and illogical. Usually, we can’t really explain or pinpoint what’s making our gut feel, think, and want to act a certain way.. Therefore, many of us choose not to follow through with whatever it is our intuition is insisting we do.

And yet, here we are always questioning our own lives. Has it ever crossed your mind that your intuition is just trying to include you in something? You know, like a little secret to a bigger and better life?

Let’s learn to sit with ourselves and really listen to what our bodies are trying to tell us. Like I said, deep down we already know what we want out of life. Our intuition is trying to let us in on this little secret. So it’s time you listen up.

Ultimately, when you learn to listen to what your intuition is insisting you should do, you’ll find yourself doing a lot more things that align with who you really are—even if you don’t know who that is just yet.

During my late teenage years, my intuition started knocking at my door for a surprise visit. Out of nowhere one day I was no longer happy with my pass times, some of my social circle, and overall lifestyle. I think this happens to all of us as we hit age milestones.

Metaphorically speaking, my conscience, intuition, and sense of self teamed up to tell me, “We need to talk.”

And if it hasn’t already, it’ll happen to you too.

They’ll tell you to pull over for a pit stop; to take a break from your everyday to re-evaluate the world around you. It’s during this time that you have the opportunity to kick the child in you to the curb.  I’m not talking about the dreamer, the lover, or the hopeful parts of you. Hold onto those pieces of yourself for as long as you can, if not forever.

To be blunt, you’ll be given opportunities in life to kick immaturity, ignorance, and radical selfishness to the curb. If you welcome intuition with open arms, you’ll learn to cruise through life a lot happier and more self fulfilled.

For me, there was just a flip of a switch one day. I was going through my regular day-to-day when out of nowhere I realized I was agreeing to things that no longer resonated with me, participating in conversations that no longer held my interest, and doing things that no longer gave me joy.

My gut was nagging and naysaying everything I was doing. With every action something in my gut groaned,  “this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong” when all I was doing was everything I’ve ever done.

You see, when intuition comes knocking, it isn’t always the most pleasant experience. It’s like a distant relative shows up on your doorstep saying they’re going to be staying with you for the next few months…

In the beginning, you are going to be so very uncomfortable and confused.

At first, I snubbed my intuition. Again metaphorically speaking, I rolled my eyes at her, ignored her, and went on catering to the child part of myself. But, rebelling against your intuition can only go on for so long until you find yourself in a bad place. Imagine having a bad feeling about something, but it just doesn’t go away for days on end. Well, it was a little like that.

Like I said, I was just doing what I had always done: Doing the same exact thing every weekend with people I had known forever, just being my regular young self… But, even though everything around me was familiar, I felt so lost. I suddenly missed myself, as weird as that sounds.

Imagine feeling homesick for yourself. It’s this punch-to-the-gut feeling that you aren’t living up to what you’re supposed to be. It’s this guilty fear that you’ve pushed yourself away, and maybe even lost yourself for good. It’s this constant urge of wanting to run home in hopes of finding yourself there, under the comfy covers with warm cup of tea.

I soon realized it was my intuition saying, “Hmmm. Girl, this life just ain’t you no more. I have bigger plans.”

I promise you this. If you listen to your intuition, you’ll find yourself being called back home.

Once I came to my senses, I started listening to what my body was telling me I wanted. I paid good attention to what made me feel like myself. A little example was when I was younger I had always thought Starbucks was so overrated. But, one Saturday night I had an intuitive feeling that I should cancel my plans, head to the closest cafe, and read a good book. The closest cafe in my neck of the woods was a Starbucks, though. As much as my logical mind hesitated, telling me I should just go out to a party… My gut was gungho about hitting up this coffee house.

That night was the first time since my intuition had thrown my gut into a frenzy, that I finally felt at home. And I continued to come back, day after day after day. It was in the very back corner table along the window facing Academy Road, I learned how to write with my heart, how to read for fun, and how to listen to what my gut was telling me I wanted. It was in that same Starbucks I eventually had a gut feeling that I would fall in love in a coffee shop.

Four years later, I found myself in the same cafe looking in the eyes of the guy I would fall in love with, move in with, and start a life with. I feel like if I didn’t follow my instincts that first night I found myself in Starbucks rather, my life probably would’ve veered a slightly different path.

You see, after my first night in Starbucks, I began trying a ton of new things all based on intangible feelings. I took up different types of fitness, tried different clothing styles, hung around with different groups of people, etc. etc. etc. With every new thing I tried, I waited to see the comfort it would bring me. When my gut would be at ease and my intuition would scream, “Yeeees bish this is it! This is what I was talking about!” I would keep those things close to my heart.

It goes without saying, that through all of this I did an immense amount of changing. Change always brings discomfort, but when you have something to ground you like your gut, change can also be exhilarating because you have something to tell you what you’re doing is for the better. And believe me, I’m better than ever even on my worst days.

Imagine the feeling of falling deeply and truly in love for the first time. Now, imagine that love isn’t towards a person, but for all your little life experiences.  That’s what happened when I got to know my gut. My intuition insisted I do some illogical things which in turn has put me on a path where I’m continually figuring out more about myself and my comfort zones.

Do I have it all figured out? Hell no. But, I do know this for sure: If you have a feeling about something, you should explore it. You’ll be surprised what you’ll find out about yourself. I promise, it’ll feel a lot like coming home.

In essence, trust your gut. That bitch knows what’s up.