Trust Your Gut — It’s There to Protect You

In the TV show Scandal, Olivia Pope often claimed she trusted her gut because it was never wrong.

While that makes for great television, intuition isn’t reserved for fictional heroines or unusually “lucky” people. It’s something we all have.

Many women, however, are socialized to ignore it — especially when following it might feel awkward, impolite, or inconvenient.

There’s a line in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo suggesting that people are often more worried about offending someone else than protecting themselves. Unfortunately, that tendency can lead us into situations that don’t serve us.

When I look back on difficult experiences in my life — in work, relationships, friendships, and even health decisions — a common thread appears:

I had a feeling something wasn’t right… and I talked myself out of it.

Intuition doesn’t always present as a dramatic warning. Often it shows up as a quiet sense that something feels “off.” A comment that lands sideways. A fleeting expression that doesn’t match the words being spoken. A subtle tension you can’t explain.

Psychologists call these involuntary facial cues “microexpressions” — tiny flashes of genuine emotion that people cannot fully control. Our brains register them even when we aren’t consciously aware of it.

Whether you view intuition as a spiritual nudge, accumulated life experience, or subconscious pattern recognition, its purpose is the same: to guide and protect.

The frustrating part is that intuition rarely explains itself in logical terms.

Years ago, I was consulting for a business client when we partnered with an outside vendor to produce a newsletter. The arrangement made sense on paper, and the partner organization was highly reputable.

Yet I felt uneasy about the individual we were working with.

I dismissed my discomfort as personal bias. I told myself I was being overly critical, that he was simply doing his job, and that everything was fine.

Months later, I learned that the vendor had taken the money from multiple businesses and disappeared.

My instincts had picked up on something before the facts were visible. I just didn’t trust myself enough to act on it.

The same pattern showed up in relationships. Red flags appeared early, but I rationalized them away because I didn’t want to seem judgmental, negative, or overly cautious.

Trusting your intuition doesn’t mean living in fear or assuming the worst about people. It simply means paying attention to your inner signals and giving yourself permission to respond.

If someone makes you uncomfortable, you don’t need a courtroom-level explanation to decline further interaction.

And if you pass on an opportunity that later turns out to have been harmless, you’ve still honored your sense of safety and peace.

Your true soulmate, your right job, your right friendships — none of those should consistently produce a sense of dread or unease.

Part of living a One-Derful Life is learning to trust yourself again. Confidence isn’t built by making perfect decisions; it’s built by listening to your inner guidance and acting with integrity.

Ignoring my intuition led to years of unnecessary heartache. Learning to honor it brought peace — even when the decisions were difficult.

If you’re currently healing from heartbreak, I created a free training called the ABC’s of Healing to help you move forward and feel steady again.

You don’t need to become hard or suspicious to protect your heart.
You just need to trust the wisdom that’s already inside you.

Question: When was the last time you ignored your gut — and what did you learn from it?