When I became a first- and only-time mom, I, like many, had no idea what I was doing. ‘Trust your instinct,’ people kept telling me. I tried, I really did. But how can you trust your instinct when you can barely even find it?
INSTINCT: a natural or inherent aptitude, impulse, or capacity (Mirriam-Webster Dictionary)
INSTINCT: the way people or animals naturally react or behave, without having to think or learn about it (Cambridge Dictionary)
Trust your instinct. A poem.
Instinct, you are loaded with expectations I cannot meet.
Were it not for you, I would not know that I should know better.
I would not know that I should know at all.
I long for questions to roll lightly from my tongue and run playfully in my mind.
Not lodge in my throat like large chunks of unbuttered bread. No tea to wash them down.
I long for patience.
Patience to accept that answers must ripen before they may fall. Patience in the place of torment.
Torment caused by indecision, transition, outcomes pending.
Always. Seeking. Answers. Please. Come to me.
I long for Basic Instinct. Gut Instinct. Mother’s Instinct.
Instead, I calculate, articulate, gesticulate and hesitate.
Every move. Every thought. Every word. Every breath wrought with judgment. Every judgment wrought with judgment.
Instinct, you are relentless in your absence.
Trust your instinct, they say, but I was raised to never trust a stranger.
Viv for today xo
Why trust your instinct? 32 inspirational quotes.
I’m pleased to say that I did eventually find my instinct and we’ve become the best of friends. But in my journey to find it, I wasn’t always gracious, as my biggest parenting fail demonstrates.
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Beautifully written! You have a true gift for words :)
Much appreciated Caitlin.
Trusting your gut is usually good advice, but sometimes there is nothing there. Or it’s so buried under anxiety, fear, or information overload you can’t read your own mind. Beautifully worded poetry.
And a most thoughtful and beautifully worded reply. Thanks, Elizabeth.
This is beautiful and there are definitely times I can relate!
So glad it resonated with you, Shannon.
Your poetry is beautiful…. You say the things so many of us can not express…
Thank you so much. This is the first poem I’ve ever written. I wrote it a few years ago. Glad to say I finally feel in better touch with my instinct but it still escapes me from time to time.
Such deep, thoughtful words. Sometimes if you just don’t know, you have to have faith.
Yes, you’re right Katie. When you can’t trust your instinct, just trust the universe to lead you in the right direction. And that I do.
beautifully written!
Thank you so much, Jasmine.
Patience is a quality that I unfortunately lack. This poem seems to engage with me a lot this week. Thank you for sharing your beautiful words.
I’m glad it had something to offer you, Karen. Thanks for reading and for your kind words.
That was brilliant.
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed x