Trust your vibes

In order to thrive as a third culture kid, one learns to pay attention to ones’ instinct and to heed it. The first time I consciously recognized my instinct was when I was nine.

I was walking home from school alone and felt that I was being followed. Initially I did not focus on it too much, as there were many people on the road. After walking down two streets and being aware of my surroundings and the people in my vicinity, I realized I was being followed. He was an older teen on a bicycle, with unkempt hair and a serious look. I kept walking home, but I kept an eye on him as the uncomfortable feeling did not go away. Getting closer to home, I realized he was still following me. I instinctively reached down on to the side of the road and collected some rocks and stuffed into my skirt pockets. As I turned into the last street of my home, I realized I was the only one on the street. At this point I was scared and wanted to run home, but realized he was on a bicycle and could easily catch up with me. So, I steadied my breathing and focused on keeping even, long purposeful steps towards home, my hands on the rocks in my pocket, and ensured I was aware of how far he was from me. Quarter way into the street, he sped up and when he caught up with me, he reached out his hand to touch my head. I ducked and threw a rock at his back. And then a few more for good measure with a firm hand, rocking him a bit on his bicycle. And then I ran. I did not look back until I got home. When I did look back, there was no one there.

That day I learned a few things. First to listen to my instincts, and to follow up on it firmly. This is a rule I followed most of my growing years until I was an adult. I am happy to say it saved me from countless situations that could have turned ugly with a lifetime of regrets.

Over the years, I have honed in my analytical mind to reason out situations and break it down with logic and analysis and it has become an integral part of evaluating people and situations. Combining my logical thought process and being aware of my instincts and trusting it, has served me well both at work and in my personal life.

However, in the past decade the balance between my logical thinking and trusting my instincts seems to have become offset. Countless times I found myself using logic to talk myself out of things that are contradictory to what my instincts say. This past year has been a year of growth both professionally and personally. But I have realized, that my growth is not reaching its potential as I have ignored my instincts choosing to reason it out.

So, I am taking the next step to equalize the balance between trusting my instincts and using logic, both in my personal life and my professional life. It scares me, as I know the journey is not going to be easy and it will take me out of my comfort zone. But I also know that if I don’t take that step, I will never really know the full potential of my life and its impact on and around me. Looking back I’d rather regret the things I have done, than regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance.

I say to you, pursue the things you really want in life, TRUST your instincts – the rewards will be greater and the impact of it deeper.