Your Gut Feeling Is Real: How to Tell the Difference Between Intuition and Anxiety
Because sometimes your body knows before your brain does and sometimes it’s just spiraling
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Your Gut Feeling Is Real: How to Tell the Difference Between Intuition and Anxiety
Because sometimes your body knows before your brain does and sometimes it’s just spiraling
This post was inspired by a conversation I had with my good friend and energy healer, Nadia Fryer. Her insight helped me finally put words to something I’ve felt for years but couldn’t always explain. How blurry the line between anxiety and intuition can feel, and how learning to tell the difference has changed everything.
You know that feeling where your stomach tightens, your heart skips, or your mind goes into overdrive and you're like... wait, is this a sign? Or am I just anxious?
If you've ever asked yourself, “Is this my intuition or am I just freaking out?” you’re not alone. I’ve asked myself that question more times than I can count, especially when I’m about to make a big decision, text someone back, or book something that feels a little stretchy.
The truth? Intuition and anxiety can feel really similar
But they don’t come from the same place.
Let’s break it down in a way that actually makes sense.
Intuition
Intuition vs Anxiety: The Energy Behind It
Intuition is neutral and clear, even if it’s delivering a no. It’s more like a quiet nudge than a scream. It doesn’t need to convince you. It just knows.
Anxiety, on the other hand, is loud, chaotic, and usually wrapped in worst-case scenarios. It spirals. It grabs onto outcomes. It needs control.
One comes from connection.
The other comes from fear.
How Intuition Usually Feels
A soft pull or knowing
Feels instant and grounded
Clear even if it's inconvenient
No racing thoughts or mental chaos
The body stays fairly calm even if the message is uncomfortable
Example: You’re about to say yes to a plan and suddenly feel a subtle nope in your gut. Not panic, just a knowing that this isn’t aligned.
How Anxiety Usually Feels
Racing thoughts or future-tripping
Lots of “what ifs” and over-analysis
Feels like you have to make the right choice or something bad will happen
Tense chest, shallow breath, fidgety energy
Gets louder the more you feed it
Example: You’re about to send a text and your brain starts writing five different scripts of how it could go wrong.
How I’ve Noticed the Difference in My Own Life
This has come up a lot in my personal journey, especially as I’ve deepened my own energy work. There have been so many moments where I’ve paused mid-action, whether it’s responding to an email, booking something, or saying yes to an invite, and thought, is this a gut feeling or just anxiety dressed up in intuition’s clothes?
One of the biggest shifts for me was talking this through with my good friend Nadia, who’s incredibly gifted at helping people tune into their own intuitive language. Working with her helped me understand how my body uniquely communicates and when it’s actually giving me a clear yes or no.
Since working together, I’ve noticed my energy feels noticeably lighter. I’m carrying way less anxiety and have been feeling more clear and confident in my decisions, especially the ones that used to make me second-guess myself.
I shared more about her work and how to book a session at the bottom of this post if you’re curious. She’s been such a supportive part of my journey.
How to Tune Into Your Intuition (Without Overthinking It)
Check the tone of the message
Is it urgent and spiraling or calm and steady?Get into your body
Intuition isn’t a thought. It’s a felt sense. Try moving, grounding, or just breathing before deciding.Don’t rush the clarity
Anxiety rushes. Intuition waits.Notice patterns
If you’ve felt this way before and ignored it, what happened? What about when you did listen?Ask your body, not just your mind
Literally ask, “Is this mine? Is this fear or truth?” and then listen for what lands without pushing.
What I’ve Learned About Trusting My Gut
Your intuition isn’t loud or flashy
It’s usually quiet, clear, and consistent
Anxiety yells. Intuition nudges.
And the more you practice noticing the difference, the more naturally you’ll start to trust it.
Because your gut isn’t guessing. It’s guiding.
Want Support Tuning Into Your Own Intuition?
If you’ve been navigating a big transition, feeling disconnected from your inner voice, or just craving more energetic clarity, I can’t recommend working with my good friend Nadia Fryer enough.
She’s a Reiki Master and multidimensional energy healer who offers sessions in energetic divorce, Arcturian healing, and now even the Akashic Records. Her work blends deep energetic clearing with intuitive guidance in a way that’s gentle, powerful, and deeply affirming.
She’s not just a practitioner I admire. She’s someone who has held space for me during some of my most transformative shifts. Working with her has helped me move through fear, clear lingering anxiety, and return to my own inner compass with more trust and ease.
One of my favorite things she’s ever said is
“Remember, it’s not about the messenger. It’s about the message.”
That line has stayed with me in so many moments when I was looking for clarity or trying to reconnect with what I already knew deep down.
Book a session:
starseedholisticinstitute.com
Follow Nadia on Instagram:
✨ @nafigueira_starseed - personal
✨ @starseed.institute - professional
Try her guided meditations:
🌀 Guided Healing Meditation with the Seven Archangels
If you do decide to work with her, I hope it feels like the beginning of coming home to yourself. That’s what it was for me. 💙
Want more intuitive tools like this?
Come hang out on The Bloom Collective, where I share real-life energy tools, body cues, and grounded support for tuning in without second-guessing everything.
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— Jess 🌿
Reiki Healer, Akashic Records Guide, and Founder of Vibrational Bloom
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This is great advice on an issue I’ve struggled with for a long time.
I love the way you put this together, thanks so much for this!