Do you trust your instincts?

My instincts are overall okay at best, and I only say that because there are some areas of my life where I’m keenly in tune with what’s going on while other areas I could be completely oblivious. There’s a balance in there somewhere. I’m sure this applies to most everyone.

But there is also something to be said for knowing when to not trust your instincts because they’ve been consistently wrong in the past. Call it negative instinct, maybe. Getting to that stage sucks, because you have to experience the frustration, pain, and/or hardship for yourself to be able to recognize the gap.

If you can get there, then you can try to adjust your lifestyle or living situation to compensate for the gaps while maximizing the areas where your instincts are strongest. Then you can really say you trust your instincts.

For me, this all adds up to trusting my instincts when it comes to practical and necessary things, like driving. More often than not, I enjoy driving, and I can get to places fairly quickly/efficiently. Navigating by instinct through a busy city, knowing shortcuts and alternative routes for when you think a train or school bus will stop traffic. Those kinds of practical things.

Where I sometimes struggle with listening to instinct is dealing with people. At work I’m usually fine, because there are predictable expectations and people are there to do the work. You can anticipate things better. Outside of work? Well, if I have zero expectations, I can better anticipate things and listen to instinct when things are about to change. But if it’s romantic relationship stuff? I see better from the outside looking in and can help friends in that respect but I can’t seem to help myself. If it’s not straightforward and obvious, or I’m not being told explicitly something, then I miss the signs and my instincts never seem to kick in. So, now I just don’t put myself in those situations. If my friends want to play matchmaker then okay, but my instincts aren’t helping them help me.

That’s how I look at it, anyway, when I try to live by instinct.