You’re standing at a crossroads, again. The decision should be simple, but you’ve already asked three friends, made a pro-con list, and googled “how to know if this is the right choice” at least twice today.
Your gut has been whispering the answer for weeks. But you don’t trust it anymore.
Because the last time you listened to your intuition, you made the “wrong” choice. Or maybe you’ve been overriding that inner knowing for so long that you can’t even hear it anymore. Either way, here you are: stuck in analysis paralysis, desperately seeking external validation for a decision only you can make.
Here’s what I know from working with women who’ve lost their self-trust: You’re not broken. Your intuition isn’t gone. You’ve just learned to ignore it. And today, we’re going to start rebuilding that trust, from your body up.
What Self-Trust Really Is (And Why You Lost It)
Self-trust isn’t confidence. It’s not about believing you’ll make the “right” decision every time.
Self-trust is the deep knowing that you can trust yourself to handle whatever comes. That your body’s signals are valid. That your intuition, that quiet inner voice, is worth listening to, even when it doesn’t make logical sense.
But somewhere along the way, you stopped trusting yourself.
Maybe you made a decision that didn’t work out, and you blamed your intuition instead of understanding that sometimes the “wrong” path teaches you exactly what you need to learn.
Maybe someone told you your feelings were irrational, your instincts were wrong, your gut was lying to you. And you believed them.
Maybe you’ve been living in your head for so long, thinking, analyzing, strategizing, that you’ve completely disconnected from the wisdom your body holds.
In my practice as a mindfulness coach, I’ve witnessed this pattern repeatedly: High-achieving women who are brilliant at analyzing data, making strategic plans, and solving complex problems, but who can’t trust themselves to know what they want for dinner, let alone what they want for their lives.
This is what happens when you’ve been rewarded for logic and punished for feeling. When you’ve been taught that your mind is trustworthy but your body is not.
The Truth About Intuition
Let me tell you something that might shift everything: Your intuition has never been wrong.
I know. You’re thinking about that relationship you stayed in too long. That job you took that was a disaster. That decision you made that you now regret.
But here’s what actually happened: You either (a) didn’t listen to your intuition at all, or (b) you listened, took aligned action, and learned exactly what you needed to learn from the outcome.
Your intuition doesn’t promise you’ll never struggle. It promises you’ll be on your path.
When I left my dream job in Berlin, everyone thought I was crazy. On paper, the decision made no sense.
Logically, I should have stayed, climbed the corporate ladder, built the life I’d worked so hard to manifest.
But my body knew. My intuition was screaming at me that this wasn’t my path anymore. And every time I tried to logic myself into staying, I felt this heaviness in my chest, this tightness in my throat, this deep knowing that I was abandoning myself.
I listened. I left. And three years later, I’m living in Bali, teaching women to trust themselves. Was it the “safe” choice? No. Was it the right one? Absolutely.
Your intuition speaks truth. The question is: Are you listening?
Why Building Self-Trust Starts in Your Body
Here’s what most people get wrong about rebuilding self-trust: They think it’s a mental process. Like if you just think about it enough, analyze it enough, understand it enough, you’ll suddenly trust yourself.
But self-trust doesn’t live in your mind. It lives in your body.
Your body is where your intuition speaks. That gut feeling? It’s literally your enteric nervous system sending you information. That tightness in your chest when something feels off? That’s your body protecting you. That expansion, that “yes” feeling when something is aligned? That’s your feminine wisdom guiding you home.
But if you’re not in your body, if you’re living entirely in your head, you can’t hear these signals.
This is what feminine embodiment teaches us: Your body holds more wisdom than your mind ever will. Your thoughts can lie to you, justify anything, talk you into or out of whatever serves your fears. But your body? Your body always tells the truth.
So if you want to rebuild self-trust, you have to come back to feeling safe within your body first.
The Difference Between Intuition and Fear
“But how do I know if it’s my intuition or just anxiety?”
I hear this question constantly. And it’s valid. Because when you’ve been disconnected from your body for a long time, fear and intuition can feel confusing.
Here’s how to tell them apart:
Fear feels frantic. It’s urgent, chaotic, loud. It lives in your head, spiraling through worst-case scenarios. Fear says, “What if everything goes wrong?” and “What will people think?” and “You’re going to fail.” Fear contracts your body, shallow breathing, tight chest, clenched jaw.
Intuition feels calm and steady. It’s clear and knowing. It lives in your body, your gut, your heart, your bones.
Intuition says “This is right” or “I need to leave” or “Trust this.” and then doesn’t waver. Intuition expands your body, deepens your breathing, opens your chest, and relaxes your shoulders.
Fear asks a million questions. Intuition gives you one clear answer.
The more you practice dropping into your body, the easier it becomes to distinguish between the two. And the more you trust your intuition, even in small things, the louder and clearer it becomes.
4 Practices to Rebuild Self-Trust From Your Body Up
Practice 1: Start With the Small Decisions
You don’t rebuild self-trust by making one huge leap. You rebuild it through a thousand tiny moments of choosing yourself.
Start with decisions that feel low-stakes. What do you want for breakfast? What do you actually want to wear today? Do you want to go to that event, or would you rather stay home?
Before you ask anyone else, before you make a pro-con list, before you start thinking about what you “should” do, drop into your body.
Place your hand on your belly. Take three deep breaths. Ask yourself: “What does my body want right now?”
Then trust the first answer. Even if it doesn’t make sense. Even if it’s different from what you planned. Even if it disappoints someone.
This is how you start: One small choice at a time, where you honor your inner knowing over external expectations.
Practice 2: Body Scan for Truth
Your body is constantly giving you information. But if you’re not paying attention, you miss it.
Try this: The next time you have a decision to make, try each option on in your body.
Close your eyes. Think about Option A. Notice what happens in your body. Does your chest tighten or expand? Does your breathing get shallow or deeper? Do your shoulders rise or drop? Does this feel contracting or expansive?
Then shake it off. Take a breath. Now think about Option B. What does your body do with this one?
Your body knows. It always knows. When something is aligned with your truth, your body opens. When something isn’t, your body contracts.
This practice trains you to listen to the signals you’ve been ignoring for years.
Practice 3: Track Your Intuitive Hits
Start noticing when your intuition speaks and when you’re right.
Keep a journal. When you have a gut feeling about something, write it down. “My intuition says this person isn’t trustworthy.” “My body is telling me not to take this job.” “I have a feeling this is going to work out.”
Then, as time passes, go back and notice: Was your intuition right?
In my experience, the answer is almost always yes. But we forget. We override our knowing, something goes wrong, and then we blame ourselves for not trusting ourselves, even though we actually DID know. We just didn’t listen.
When you track your intuitive hits, you build evidence for your inner knowing. You start to see: Oh. My body was telling me the truth. I can trust this.
Practice 4: Practice Feeling Without Fixing
One of the biggest reasons we stop trusting ourselves is because we’ve been taught that feelings are problems to solve.
You feel sad, so you distract yourself. You feel angry, so you push it down. You feel uncertain, so you frantically search for answers outside yourself.
But feelings aren’t problems. They’re information. And when you learn to feel without immediately trying to fix, analyze, or escape the feeling, you rebuild trust in your body’s wisdom.
Try this: The next time an uncomfortable emotion comes up, don’t run from it.
Sit down. Place both hands on your heart. Take slow, deep breaths. Say to yourself: “I’m feeling [emotion]. This is valid. I can feel this without it consuming me.”
Let the feeling move through you. Notice where it lives in your body. Breathe into it. Stay with it for two minutes, just two.
This practice teaches your nervous system that you’re safe with your feelings. That you can trust yourself to hold whatever arises. That you don’t need to outsource your emotional experience to someone else.
What Changes When You Trust Yourself Again
I’m not going to promise you that rebuilding self-trust will make your life perfect. Or that you’ll never make another “mistake.”
But here’s what will change:
Your decisions come faster. You stop second-guessing everything. You check in with your body, hear the answer, and trust it. The mental anguish of “What should I do?” dissolves.
Your boundaries get clearer. When you trust your intuition, you know what’s a yes and what’s a no. You stop saying yes out of guilt and no out of fear. Your boundaries come from truth, not people-pleasing.
You stop outsourcing your worth. You no longer need everyone else’s approval to feel good about your choices. You’re rooted in yourself. What others think becomes background noise.
You feel more alive. When you’re connected to your body and trusting your intuition, you’re present to life itself. You’re not living three steps ahead in your mind. You’re here, now, feeling everything.
You make aligned choices. Not perfect ones. Not risk-free ones. But choices that feel true to who you are. And even when they’re hard, they feel right in your body.
When I look back at my journey from Berlin to Bali, I don’t regret a single moment, even the scary ones, the uncertain ones, the ones where I had no idea if I was making the “right” call.
Because I was learning to trust myself. And that trust? It’s the foundation for everything else.
Your Intuition Is Still There
Here’s what I want you to know: Your intuition didn’t disappear. It’s been whispering to you this whole time.
You’ve just learned to talk over it. To think louder than it. To ask everyone else’s opinion before you check in with your own knowing.
But it’s still there. Waiting. Patient. Ready to guide you home to yourself the moment you’re willing to listen.
Rebuilding self-trust isn’t about getting it perfect. It’s about coming back into your body. Feeling instead of only thinking. Honoring the quiet knowing that’s been there all along.
You already know what you need to know. You just need to trust yourself enough to listen.
Ready to Trust Yourself Deeply?
If this article landed for you, something in you is already remembering. You’re already reconnecting with the truth that your body holds wisdom, your intuition is trustworthy, and you don’t need to outsource your knowing to anyone else.
Imagine what it would feel like to make decisions without agonizing for weeks. To trust your gut when it says yes and when it says no. To feel at home in your body, present to life, connected to your truth.
This is the work I guide women through in my mindfulness coaching and feminine embodiment programs. Each week in my newsletter, I share body-based practices, personal reflections, and grounded guidance to help you rebuild self-trust and reconnect with your intuition.
Subscribe to my love letters to continue this journey together. You’ll receive weekly practices and insights on trusting yourself, embodiment, and coming home to your inner wisdom.
