Self-trust is critical to the success of your wellness journey for so many reasons. First and foremost, in our culture of influencers and “health experts,” it can be overwhelming to know who or what to believe. I’m a trained professional in the health and wellness space, and I still find it hard to know what or who to trust sometimes.
That’s why I always come back to myself—and the fact that I know my body best. For so long, I pushed my body hard on days when it asked for rest. I ignored cues for hunger to follow specific diet plans. Spoiler alert: it didn’t get me anywhere but burned out and anything but healthy when you look at wellness as a whole-body experience. (Check out my recent blog post,
Wholistic Fit Living Guide: A Roadmap to Mind-Body Health, to learn more about how powerful this mindset can be.)
If you can relate to being overwhelmed by information and not knowing who to trust, it’s time to check in with yourself. Let’s talk about why self-trust (that inner wisdom, sometimes referred to as your gut) matters and how to use this intuition to chart a wellness path that’s right for you. Plus, I’ll share how to cultivate self-trust so you can discern fact from fiction or fad.
Why Self-Trust Is Important for Your Wellness Journey
In a recent survey of 1,022 U.S. adults, 60 percent of respondents feel motivated by wellness-related content on social media to make healthier, more nutritious choices for their bodies. However, 68 percent have seen conflicting information from multiple sources. Another 60 percent are confused about which habits are worth implementing.
When you can trust in yourself to determine what’s right and not right—or even what’s potentially dangerous—you can use that self-trust to inform your decisions, which nurtures confidence, self-efficacy, and empowerment.
In a recent study of patients with chronic health issues, building self-efficacy helped alleviate symptoms of their illness. It also improves mental health outcomes and quality of life. Plus, these patients were more motivated to heal, which ultimately made them feel secure in their overall capacity to reach that goal.
Long story short, self-trust will impact every area of your health and wellness journey.
How to Hone Your Self-Trust
We are surrounded by an excess of information every single day. Often that information is contradictory or confusing. As a result, it’s hard to know what to eat, what’s truly effective when it comes to exercise, or what habits to implement to care for our mental health.
Personally, I consume a lot of content—like most people! I’m constantly reading books, listening to podcasts, watching interviews, reading articles, etc. While it’s certainly a part of my job to stay educated and informed, it’s also a passion of mine. I love learning.
One of the side effects of taking in a lot of information from a wide variety of sources is seeing just how much conflicting information there is out there. This used to drive me crazy. But over time, I’ve learned to use it to my advantage and hone my self-trust.
What I mean is, I understand that there can be many viewpoints on a certain topic and even research can be done in ways that result in conflicting conclusions. Over the years, I’ve learned to take the information I learn, run it through what I’ve already learned or experienced to be true, and then also run it through a lens of what I know to be true for ME.
For example, what do I know about myself that this person/research doesn’t know? While one non-toxic expert may tell me I should never use plastic products to avoid potential toxins—that’s not the whole story. I also know that I spent years dealing with anxiety around health. This means, for me, it’s important to be informed of those potential dangers, without embracing an “all or nothing” mentality that leads to more stress, which in turn, would have an even bigger negative impact on my health.
Ultimately, nothing is more trustworthy than the gut instinct within you and what you know about yourself. The goal is to take what you hear, check in with yourself, and then choose what’s best for you. If you’re not sure how to connect with that inner source of wisdom, here are a few ways to practice and learn.
Listen to the Cues from Your Own Body
Your body is wise and is always communicating. Learning how to listen, and then respond accordingly, is one of the most important skills we can develop. For example, a few years ago my body was responding strangely to high-intensity workouts.
It took me a while to understand what my body was trying to tell me. Listening, paying attention, and recognizing symptoms, I was able to adapt, seek support, and make changes to help me feel better and to help my body function more optimally. Listen to my surprising health diagnosis podcast episode to learn more about what happened.
Even more interestingly, what I’ve found is that honing this self-trust has a ripple effect throughout every aspect of your life. When you make an effort to create a mindful, trusting relationship with the body, you’re likely to experience a wide range of outcomes, including:
- Lower depression and anxiety
- Mental resilience and emotional regulation
- Higher levels of self-awareness
- Positive outlook on body image
- Improved stress management
- Healthy eating and exercise behaviors
- Increased motivation for self-care
If you’re not sure how to block out external noise and tune into the wellness cues coming from your own body, read my blog post, 5 Practical Strategies to Listen to Your Body Each Day. As with anything you do, this skill takes time and practice, but is very much within your reach!
Practice Self-Compassion
Everyone has imperfections and shortcomings, that’s what makes us human. The sooner you embrace this, the less susceptible you’ll be to self-doubt. Also, the more confidence you will have in your decision-making abilities.
According to the Health Psychology Open Journal, even just listening to a brief, 10-minute recording of compassionate mantras over four consecutive days can lead to reduced inflammation, healthier immune function, and calmer nervous system response.
By the way, if you feel like those mantras never work for you, then read, Why Your Self-Love Mantras Aren’t Working (And How to Fix Them), to tap into greater compassion for yourself.
Practice self-love with Breathwork for Letting Go of Perfection Narratives within the Lindywell app. Start your free trial of our Pilates app today to get instant access to this plus more guided breathwork sessions and 300+ Pilates workouts.
Ask Questions that Encourage Reflection
If you’re prone to second-guessing your intuition when confronted with varying health trends, claims, or opinions, practice pausing. When you come across any piece of wellness advice, take a moment to reflect. Interrogate the information before believing it at face value. Ask the questions below to learn how to trust what feels nourishing and beneficial for your well-being while also assessing its reliability:
- Does this information come from a reliable, legitimate source?
- Does this cause me to feel shame about my current habits?
- Does it come across as extreme, restrictive, or unattainable?
A self-reflection inventory will help connect back to your health priorities, so you can align with behaviors or decisions that reinforce them. Then as you turn inward, get curious, and ask honest questions, it becomes easier to follow the guidance that resonates with you, while creating boundaries to set aside whatever doesn’t feel right.
After all, what works for someone else might not serve you.
Self-Trust Is a Foundational Piece of Your Wellness Journey
No one is more competent at making decisions for your own health, fitness, and well-being than you are. In a culture saturated with what seems like as many clashing wellness opinions as there are Instagram and TikTok accounts, it’s essential to tune out the noise. Use these ideas to cultivate and nurture your own self-trust. You might just discover the answers to a healthier, more vibrant life have been inside you all along.
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