Not Overreacting, Just Noticing: Trusting Your Gut at Work
Have you ever left a meeting thinking, “Was that just a weird vibe… or am I imagining things?” Maybe someone cut you off mid-sentence. Maybe a colleague’s tone felt a little sharper than it needed to be. Or maybe you just had that strange, unsettled feeling afterward—like something unspoken happened and no one’s naming it.
Here’s the deal: your gut isn’t being dramatic. It’s being intelligent. Your nervous system is wired to pick up on micro-signals—tone, timing, facial expressions, body language, energy shifts—long before your brain has the language to explain what just happened. This isn’t over-sensitivity; it’s awareness. It’s data.
The problem is, many of us have been socialized to override this awareness—especially in professional settings. We’ve been taught to:
“Be cool.”
“Don’t make it a big deal.”
“Be the bigger person.”
“Give them the benefit of the doubt.”
“Don’t take things personally.”
And while grace is a beautiful thing, so is self-trust. Because when something feels off—whether it’s a pattern of passive-aggressive behavior, subtle exclusion, or just that sense of being dismissed or undermined—it’s worth paying attention to. Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. It just makes you go quiet.
Signs your intuition might be speaking:
You feel tension in your body when someone talks—even if their words are “fine.”
You leave a conversation confused or second-guessing your response.
You keep replaying the same interaction in your head, wondering if you did something wrong.
You notice patterns in how you’re treated—like your ideas being overlooked, only to be repeated and praised later by someone else.
You dread certain meetings or people, even if nothing “officially” negative has happened.
Trusting your gut doesn’t mean accusing people of bad intent. It doesn’t mean calling a team meeting to unpack every awkward exchange. What it does mean is getting curious. It means checking in with yourself instead of dismissing yourself.
You can say:
“Something about that moment didn’t sit right—can I ask for a little clarity?”
“I may be reading into this, but I want to name something that felt off.”
“I noticed a shift in energy and I just want to make sure we’re okay.”
That’s not overreacting. That’s noticing. That’s self-leadership. That’s confidence in action.
Because here’s the truth: the more you trust yourself, the less you need constant validation from everyone else. You stop outsourcing your reality. You stop gaslighting yourself. You start honoring what your body and mind already know.
Your instincts aren’t a liability—they’re a leadership asset. They help you navigate power dynamics, advocate for yourself, and sense when it’s time to speak, shift, or set a boundary.
So the next time you feel that “off” moment? Don’t shove it down. Breathe. Check in. Get curious.
Your intuition is speaking. And it’s worth listening to.
