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How To Tell The Difference Between Anxiety and Intuition
23 Plays7 days ago
Is that gut feeling anxiety… or intuition? How to tell the difference, trust yourself, and act with clarity.
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Transcript
Introduction: Intuition vs Anxiety
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to Connected with Eva. Today I want to talk about something that has shaped so many of my decisions in life. My professional, my personal life.
00:00:10
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Every time I wasn't sure what to do, needed something to nudge me one way or the other. You know that question, is this my intuition or is this my anxiety?
00:00:22
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Because Sometimes they can feel almost identical. Both live in the body. Both feel urgent and important. Both feel like they're trying to protect you.
00:00:34
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But they're also very different forces.
Understanding Anxiety's Role
00:00:37
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And if you're someone who reflects, who wants to make the right choice in life, This can become exhausting.
00:00:45
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You start questioning yourself, is this fear or is this wisdom? And sometimes you give anxiety a very spiritual title. We call it a gut feeling.
00:00:56
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But not every uncomfortable feeling is truth. Sometimes it's just your nervous system trying to keep you safe from growth. Let's start with anxiety. Anxiety is loud.
00:01:08
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It is fast. It creates worst-case scenarios in high definition. It says things like, what if this fails? What if you embarrass yourself? What if people judge you and none of us want to be judged?
00:01:22
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What if you choose wrong and ruin everything? Anxiety loves certainty. wants guarantees before action. It wants reassurance before risk.
00:01:33
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It wants proof before belief. But none of these are possible. And physically, anxiety feels activated. tight chest racing thoughts restlessness mental loops and i've experienced all of these things myself that's physical discomfort when you're in that moment it feels really big really scary and really important.
00:02:01
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And anxiety who loves to feel important. When you act based off anxiety, you think you're being responsible, but you're actually trying to eliminate vulnerability.
00:02:13
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And here's the tricky part. Whenever you're about
The Nature of Intuition
00:02:16
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to grow, anxiety shows up. Before starting something new, before moving cities, before saying no or yes,
00:02:24
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Before raising your standards, before outgrowing an old identity, before learning on your skill, be it something really small. Anxiety comes because it hates expansion.
00:02:37
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And not because it's a jealous neighbor coming to steal your success. Because it's there to look after you. Because expansion feels unsafe. Now let's talk about intuition.
00:02:49
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Intuition is quiet. It doesn't scream. It doesn't catastrophize. It's short and clear. Very neutral. Do it. Not this.
00:03:00
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Wait. This matters. Intuition doesn't try to scare you into action. It also doesn't try and scare you out of it. It's steady. And this is something I've really had to learn myself.
00:03:13
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Anxiety feels dramatic. It's a performer. Intuition feels calm. It's in the background. Quieter. And most real wisdom is subtle.
00:03:25
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For example, when I've had ideas myself, creative ideas, anxiety immediately jumps in. Who are you to do this? You can't. You have no capabilities. You're not good enough to do this.
00:03:38
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Why should anyone care? What if it's bad? What if it's average? All of that is anxiety trying to protect me from humiliation.
00:03:49
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But underneath that noise, there's often a very quiet voice that says, this feels aligned. An alignment feels different from adrenaline. Anxiety creates adrenaline. Intuition creates clarity.
00:04:03
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One through rushes, other one surrounds you. Another way I've learned to tell the difference is this. Anxiety is really leaning into outcome.
00:04:14
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Intuition is focused on more of a general direction in life. Anxiety says, what if this out outcome doesn't work out the way you wanted it to? Intuition says, this is the right step.
00:04:28
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Do you notice the difference? I think many of us were raised to distrust ourselves, to seek external validation before internal trust. Maybe we didn't even know what trust even was.
00:04:42
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So when intuition speaks, we second-guess it. Because it's not loud, it comes with stillness. And stillness can feel unfamiliar. There's also something else important here. Anxiety is often connected to identity.
Balancing Self-Trust and Decision Making
00:04:56
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If you build an identity around being competent, impressive, stable, and not even good things, it could be identity around being shy, identity around being in the background,
00:05:09
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Anything that threatens our identity will trigger anxiety. Changing careers, speaking publicly, sharing your opinions, being seen.
00:05:20
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Because now your ego is involved. Intuition doesn't care about the ego. It cares about our own truth. And truth doesn't need to be perfect or pretty. Sometimes intuition asks you to do something that makes no logical sense to other people.
00:05:36
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but it feels right internally. And that's where self-trust is built. Not by removing anxiety, but by listening to it when it speaks. Here's something practical that helps me.
00:05:48
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When I feel overwhelmed about a decision, I ask, is this fear of growth or fear of danger? Growth fear feels stretchy.
00:05:59
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Danger fear feels sharp, painful, like someone's poking you, but also it's quite a painful poke. Growth fear says, this is uncomfortable, but let's lean into it.
00:06:13
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Danger fear says, this is wrong, run, run, run. They're not the same sensation. Growth fear often lives alongside excitement.
00:06:24
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The injury fear lives alongside dread. Anxiety blurs them. Intuition distinguishes them. Another question I ask, if nobody could see this decision, would I still want it?
00:06:38
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That one is powerful. It kind of brings into why we do things. Because sometimes anxiety is really about perception. What will people think? Will they approve?
00:06:49
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Will they understand? Will they get on board with it? But intuition isn't performing for an audience. It has your own best interest at heart. And I think part of becoming emotionally mature is realizing you can feel anxious and still move forward. It's something I talk about a lot because I have a lot of anxiety myself.
00:07:10
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And anxiety doesn't mean stop. It just means you're human. The key is not letting anxiety become the decision maker. It can sit in the passenger seat. But it cannot drive the car.
Personal Experiences and Lessons Learned
00:07:24
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Because if it tries to, it will just get scared and never go anywhere. Because anxiety's main goal is survival. And if it starts driving, there's chance it won't survive.
00:07:35
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Survival keeps you the same. Change is scary. And alignment helps you evolve. And I've noticed something in my own life. The decisions I regret are rarely the ones where I followed my intuition, even if they were hard, unpredictable, unsafe, even if the outcome wasn't what I envisioned.
00:07:55
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I regret the moments where I ignored the quiet knowing because I was scared, because I wanted certainty, because it wanted to prove where I or I wanted to belong, because I wanted to avoid discomfort.
00:08:09
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And that refusal to act is what costs us long-term pain. That short-term discomfort in making the right decision prevents us from losing time, sometimes years, sometimes an entire lifetime.
00:08:24
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of being pulled into the wrong pathway, living the wrong life. So if you're in a moment right now where you're questioning something, pause. Instead of asking, what if this goes wrong?
00:08:37
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Ask, what feels true to me? Not what feels safe, what feels true? The implications of not living our truth are huge.
00:08:49
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And then notice the answer. Is it frantic or is it calm? Is it full of explanation or is it simple? Intuition rarely over-explains.
00:09:01
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Just stands there quietly and waits for you to listen. And if you listen, it will extend a hand. And then you'll connect more. The beautiful thing is this.
00:09:12
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The more you listen, the stronger intuition becomes. Self-trust is like a muscle. If you constantly override yourself, anxiety gets louder and louder and louder until it overtakes your life.
00:09:26
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If you honor yourself, intuition gets clearer. You don't become fearless, you become steady.
Conclusion: Cultivating Intuition and Understanding Anxiety
00:09:32
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And steadiness is powerful, especially in a world that constantly tells you to rush, compare, perform, optimize.
00:09:41
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Intuition is not in a rush. Your life is not a race. And not every anxious thought deserves a microphone. Sometimes it just needs compassion. Thank you for trying to protect me, but I've got this.
00:09:54
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Now you sit in the passenger seat. That to me is real connection. Not just connection with others, but connection with yourself. Because when you're connected to yourself, decisions feel cleaner, clearer, easier.
00:10:09
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Even when they're scary. Even when they're uncertain. Even when they require courage. So if you take anything from this episode, it would be this. Anxiety is loud but temporary.
00:10:23
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Intuition is quiet but consistent. One reacts, the other knows. And you're capable of learning the difference. And also, so anxiety is not our enemy.
00:10:36
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Thank you for being with me today. this resonated, share it with someone who would benefit from it. And as always, stay connected. But most importantly, stay connected to yourself.