Follow your gut!

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Source: 365PSD.com

Always! There is a difference between your gut giving you sage advice and rationalization.

Your head will tell you it’s a good thing to reward yourself with another Starbucks mocha or a pair of shoes. (Those are my examples. Your examples will be different but you get the idea.) That is not following your gut. It’s justifying what you want to do even when it’s not a good idea. We all do it so don’t think you’re beyond it.

It’s easy to tell the difference. Your gut never tells you that you deserve something. It tells you what to do to protect your life. Keep you sane (somewhat). Makes sure you survive.

It resides in that imaginary organ somewhere between your head and heart that gives you a funny feeling. It’s a “Spidey” thing. It keeps you out of trouble if you listen but YOU MUST LISTEN.

Some say it’s pulling from old experiences. Some say it’s from eons of ancestor survivor instincts much like animals have. I think it’s that one good brain cell that’s operating at 100% capacity. (Most of mine are retired. They take multiple breaks and vacations. Early happy hours most days. It’s hard to keep a good crew of brain cells going 24/7.)

Back to my story (which didn’t start yet). I had to make an appointment to have a simple procedure done. No big deal. (No sympathy required but I do accept Starbucks gift cards.) Quick and easy but somewhat uncomfortable. However I get anxious about most things. This is no different.

The drive is almost an hour through bad traffic patterns. When I made the appointment, first available was two months out on a Friday afternoon at 3 p.m.

Fridays in this doctor’s office are wonderful. If he was around the corner, I would always go on a Friday afternoon. The schedule is light and people are in a good mood. If you have to drive through the worst of the traffic, it’s not a good time. All the bad driving skills come out on Friday afternoons even in the winter.

Despite my “Spidey” sense telling me “no, no, no,” I took it. Next appointment was another couple of weeks out. I wanted it done.

Other than busy, the drive there wasn’t too bad. It did take the full hour but nothing hurt. I kept my anxiety under control (sort of) with drugs and deep breathing exercises. My procedure went well. There is discomfort. It’s not too terrible except that I’m a wuss and like to crawl into the fetal position afterward. Very hard to do when you are the driver.

Coming home the traffic was backed up. I needed cold packs and pain killers but what I had was idiot drivers and clogged roads. I was given a prescription which I didn’t anticipate. That required a stop at a drugstore.

After the staff person called it into my usual pharmacy I realized that I was driving by another one that would shorten my trip. I had a paper prescription and went to fill it. With the newfangled on-line records, it showed that I already had the prescription filled elsewhere. More time to clear that up. Throbbing boo-boo. Traffic backing up.

 

By the time I walked in the door I wanted ice, juice and to prop my feet up. Had I followed my gut and scheduled a morning appointment, my trip home would have been cut in half. I’m old to make this mistake. Oh yes, I was swollen for the weekend too. Boogers.

Go with your gut. It’s always right.

Do you go with your gut even when it’s not what you want to do?

 

69 thoughts on “Follow your gut!”

  1. Well, well, well here is another blog I did not see from you! I am so sorry you had to suffer. I hope you are feeling much better. From other communications, I think you are…but just in case…if you want or need me…I am here.

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    • Something similar (but different) happened to me. I declined my first job offer (and I needed the damn job). Accepting would have been a transportation hardship and moving was out of the question. I got a second offer within a week or two and life was good. Thank you gut!

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  10. Yikes… an hour drive there and back for a procedure that hurts? Yuck! I find myself paying more and more attention to driving distances, destinations, and time-of-day just so I can avoid traffic. It doesn’t always work out (bad traffic can suddenly appear anywhere, anytime) but my main
    objective is to make my trip as painless as possible. My gut often tells me to stay home.

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    • I love the doc otherwise there is no way in hell I would drive there. My husband will only fly mornings because he doesn’t want to end up delayed at an airport. Statistics show that flights later in the day are more likely to have delays or cancellations. Argh! 5 a.m. at an airport!

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  11. Oy. So sorry for your troubles. I can relate the “brain cell” proposition, though. I too have always joked how mine are still there, but purposely lie dormant on death bed orders from my parents in an effort to to teach me lessons. Hope that belated cocktail helped. – Marty

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  12. I do understand how the tension builds up with any procedure…it doesn’t matter that a doctor tells us it’s not a big deal! And your example of NOT going with your gut is really a good reminder to us, so so thank you. I mostly do listen to my inner voice, but sometimes what’s best for me may inconvenience someone else in my life and I defer…old habit, and NOT an expectation by anyone else. And when I do that, I’m typically pretty irritated with myself later, because just as you describe, I could have avoided additional stress and/or chaos. This time you DO deserve an extra mocha latte!

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    • One thing that aging has taught me is not to bunch up too many “stressful” events in the same week. That helps. Fun stuff is ok but doc visits, procedures and dentists need to be spaced out, preferably with margaritas and mocha lattes in between.

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  14. Oh how frustrating. I totally get it. You just wanted to go home and curl up into that fetal position. When you’re not feeling well, every tiny little thing extra that we have to do seems like climbing a mountain. Since I don’t work outside of the house, I try to schedule my appointments between 10am and noon if possible. But I understand that it’s not always possible.

    There have been times when I made decisions with my head, and then later changed my mind because my gut was screaming at me.

    I hope you’re feeling all better now.

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    • I never make appointments after 2 unless I have to. I don’t know why I didn’t wait longer for a morning appointment but I didn’t. Another lesson reinforced. I have a long dentist appointment next week as I start some dental work and it’s also at 3 but the office is less than a mile from my home. So much easier. The dentist wanted me as his last appointment in case the appointment runs longer than he expects (that’s grim too!).

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  17. I have somehow missed my gut instincts. I voice a problem or just a scenario, and someone in the house tells me exactly what I should do and how I should do it. Really, not thinking is the easy way out. I’m glad you got home safely and can proceed to normal living.

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    • I really didn’t need anyone to drive me. It would have been a wasted 3 hours for them. I should have packed some ice in a chest for the ride home and some extra Advil. Wasn’t expecting to waste more than 45 minutes in traffic and a drugstore.

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  21. Years back, I had volunteered to vacuum the sanctuary of the church we attended. The first thing you discover about back, country churches is that they all appear to have only two electric outlets, one in the front of the sanctuary and one in the back, so you always have to use extension cords. In spite of the fact that the sanctuary was fifty feet long, the maintenance room only had a couple of eight-footers that looked like Edison had pieced them together in his shop to get power to the first light bulb. Half way through my vacuuming job the cords came unplugged, and as I grabbed both cords to plug them back in a voice in my head shouted, “If you do that you are really going to get nailed!” Well, me being me, I didn’t listen. The next thing I knew, I was on the floor on the other side of the church. My husband was standing over me and yelling into my face, something about if my heart was still working; and my hand was covered with third-degree burns. I should have listened.

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    • That is a scary story. I had something similar happen when I was trimming my hedges (at another house) on a step ladder. I just needed one more swipe but it was out of my comfortable reach. I should have stopped, moved the ladder and resume. Nope. I leaned over, lost control of the electric trimmers which I caught with my other hand. I was fortunate I didn’t cut my fingers off. That one was a real lesson for me. Won’t do that again. Ladders need respect.

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  29. Throbbing boo-boos in bumper-to-bumper traffic is a nightmare scenario and you have my condolences. OUCH!
    My instincts are normally highly attuned – especially for traffic avoidance – but I too have ignored it and suffered the consequences 😕

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