My Advice on Taking Advice

We are bombarded by information constantly.

Seriously. It’s so natural to us that I don’t think we even notice it half the time. Someone once told me that the amount of people we interact with on a daily basis, our ancestors did not even meet in their whole lifetime. This is not an exact quote so you may need to fact check me but this blew my mind! All of these voices telling us what we should be doing, buying, eating, thinking…. Most of us have become trained to need some sort of noise around us at all times. When we feel any discomfort we reach for outside validation, opinions, thoughts, or distraction. I do not think this is necessarily a bad thing, it is all about intention and balance.

I have noticed, however, that at times when my anxiety is at its highest and my inner voices are loud, adding any extra noise feels overwhelming. The other day on my walk with Theo, my headphones weren’t working so I had to walk in silence. At first I was very annoyed by this, especially since I had been looking forward to a distraction and a moment to tune out my thoughts. However, I took a deep breath and chose to relax into the circumstances of my present moment. Throughout the walk, ideas and clarity slowly began creeping in. It felt like I was able to take the mess inside my head and slowly unravel it so I could see it more clearly. It allowed me to tune into my own voice, what my true thoughts and feelings were instead of getting tangled up in someone else’s voice. It can be hard to remember in our world today, when we have voices coming at as in every direction, that our truths may not be the same as others. I constantly have to remind myself to question if what I am being told is true for me too.  

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good podcast and I think having a strong team around you to go to for advice and support is crucial. However, never forget that you know you best. Sometimes when we are so desperately seeking outside advice or validation, it is our clue to look inwards. Connecting to our intuition is a muscle that we have to strengthen. The more we take the time and effort to tune into it, the more easily we can hear and listen to it. I think we could all benefit from strengthening our trust muscles in ourselves. After taking in any outside information or advice, what would it feel like to sit with it? What would it feel like to ask ourselves how it feels for us, and then to give ourselves permission to take what feels good and leave what does not.

Please remember all of this as you read through my blog as well. I am sharing bits and pieces of my heart and mind from my lived experience. It is only what I feel at this present moment and how I feel could change next year, next month, tomorrow, in two hours….

After reflecting on this for myself, I’ve decided to try to incorporate more random spurts of silence into my day. To consciously take space after listening to a podcast or talking to a friend to digest the information and connect to what it feels like in my body. Our brains are tired, they deserve some nice peace and quiet. 

And that is my unsolicited advice about taking advice. Use with discretion.