Is This Anxiety or Intuition? (How to Know the Difference) | Ep. 517

In this episode, I talk about one of the trickiest questions people with anxiety face: How do you know whether something is anxiety or intuition? Sometimes anxiety can disguise itself as a gut feeling or a warning that something bad is about to happen, making it difficult to know whether to trust what you’re feeling. I explain some of the common differences between the two. Anxiety tends to feel urgent, repetitive, catastrophic, and focused on avoiding uncertainty, while intuition is often quieter, less demanding, and more like a gentle knowing.

I also share some personal examples of how anxiety has disguised itself as intuition in my own life, particularly when flying or being away from my family. Even when a thought doesn’t feel particularly panicky, it can still be driven by fear and the desire to prevent something bad from happening. Instead of spending hours analyzing whether a feeling is anxiety or intuition, I encourage you to ask yourself one important question: “What would the non-anxious version of me do?” This helps shift your focus away from trying to guarantee safety and toward making decisions based on your values.

Most importantly, I explain that building self-trust doesn’t come from eliminating uncertainty or always knowing whether your instincts are correct. It comes from learning to make decisions, tolerate uncomfortable feelings, and move forward without needing absolute certainty. The goal isn’t to silence every anxious warning, but to stop letting anxiety make your decisions for you.