Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside her collective. You can learn more and join us at http://www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. Have you ever found yourself torn between that nagging feeling of anxiety and the quiet but persistent feeling that you have in your gut? Are you wondering which one you can trust? Well, you are in for a treat today because we are delving deep into the world of anxiety versus intuition. I want to explore this one because I have heard my friend, Gabriel Lara, spiritual advisor who was featured in last week's session, do a session on it, and I found it so interesting.

Erica: So if you have ever had this feeling of being torn between anxiety and intuition, and you aren't really sure what the difference is, grab your favorite cozy blanket and settle in because we are going to uncover the secrets to understanding, embracing, and harnessing the power of both your anxiety, which isn't a bad thing, and your intuition. Before we dive into the nitty gritty, let's start by defining both anxiety and intuition. Anxiety, if you're like me, you've had it in the past and you'll likely experience it in the future. But it is that voice that fills your mind with doubt, with worry, and just uneasiness.

Erica: But then there's this intuition, that silent yet super force within you that really guides you without necessarily needing that logical explanation. It's like having your own personal compass. It's always pointing you in the direction that you are supposed to be going. Now have you ever wondered though what does trigger anxiety? Why does it feel like it can just take over your mind, your body, and completely derail you at times?

Erica: And then how can intuition be both subtle and powerful all at the same time? There's so much to unpack here, but y'all know that I'm a science girl, so I wanna dive into some research first. Anxiety is actually your natural response to stress. So think of it like your body's alarm system. But when that alarm keeps going off and blaring, like that god awful alarm clock from the nineties, it can really derail your well-being.

Erica: And I wanna preface this that this episode is not for people who have been diagnosed with any type of anxiety disorder, nor is it meant to diminish the seriousness of anxiety or panic attacks. Those are real. Those are serious, and you should be working with a doctor or therapist. But everyone has had some form of anxiety at some point in life. It's totally normal.

Erica: And everyone also has intuition. And intuition on the flip side feels like this kind of calmness, this oasis where clarity and certainty just reside. And what I love about intuition is that if you really quiet down and pay attention to it, it does guide you where you need to be going. It tells you what to do or what not to do, but you have to be quiet and you have to listen. And probably the hardest piece of it is sometimes you have to trust without understanding, and you have to trust without knowing where it's leading you.

Erica: That's really hard, y'all. So how can you tell the difference between anxiety and intuition? Because sometimes they kind of feel the same. What can you do to really ramp up and amplify your intuition while calming the anxiety? And I've got your answer.

Erica: And it's really easy, and it's really hard all at the same time. And all that is is to take a moment. Take a breath. That's it. Really.

Erica: Take a moment. If you feel like you were just faced with this level of uncertainty and you're not sure what to do, I want you to close your eyes, find a quiet place, take a breath, and ask yourself, am I feeling this way because I am coming from a place of fear? Or does this feel more like a quiet knowing? And your body often holds the answer.

Erica: You just have to listen to it. For me, anxiety tends to come from this lack of control. If I can't control what that outcome is gonna be or what another person is going to say or how they're going to react, that is where my fear, which comes in the form of anxiety, comes in. But if I lean in to my core values and I act in alignment with those core values, I know that I'm okay with whatever happens. I can accept that I can't always control the outcomes, but I can control my reactions.

Erica: Now what someone else says or does, I can't control that. But I can do what is right, and I can do what I believe is the right thing, and I can act in line with my values. And I don't know about you, but I have found that when I do act in alignment with my values, what others say and do doesn't really matter, and that anxiety kind of dissipates. So let me tell you a story, and this happened to me recently. I had this thing that happened at work where someone said something really awful and really untrue about who I was, how I acted, and my initial just knee jerk reaction was to question myself.

Erica: I freaked out internally. My mind started racing with all of these thoughts that because this one person said this one thing about me, that it reflected on who I was as a professional. I instantly started questioning what that meant. Will others think the same thing as this person? Is everyone gonna start questioning why I'm here and what I'm doing?

Erica: And y'all, when I just took a mointegrity, when I'm acting with positive intent.

Erica: And I knew that I had been. So in this instance, this issue, this thing that had happened, I was delivering tough feedback that was probably really hard to hear, and I was being tough about it. But that doesn't make me a bad professional or a person, and it doesn't make me the wrong person to be in the seat that I am in. What that does reflect on is that person, the person who said those awful things. And when I sat and I took that moment and I thought about it, I realized that this person was probably going through a lot of change, a lot of tough change, and change they didn't like and didn't want to happen.

Erica: And because I was the one to be driving a lot of that change, they directed their feelings towards me. So how does this pull into anxiety? Well, immediately, I had all those feelings of anxiety, of worry, because this person had set into motion and put out into the universe something I thought was going to impact me and something I thought I had no control over. But once I realized that I had been acting within my core values, my anxiety literally dissipated. Now if he thought whatever he thought, he's entitled to think that.

Erica: And it's okay because I'm not here to serve everyone and I'm not here for everybody to like me. But I am here to do a job, and I'm here to do it within my values and within my integrity, period dot the end. But on the flip side, I wanna give you a story that's gonna fill you up. And this is really centering around intuition. And pulling from one of my favorite people right here, Oprah Winfrey.

Erica: She once said that intuition is the universe's way of alerting you to the possibilities around you. And, again, you've gotta go back to taking that moment and listening because that intuition comes in as that quiet knowing. Think about Steve Jobs. He trusted his intuition when everyone else doubted him, which led to the creation of all things Apple, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad. God, I couldn't live without those things today.

Erica: Now these two people harness the power of their intuition to achieve so much greatness. So how? How do we trust our gut? I want you to start thinking of your intuition as a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets.

Erica: I know it can be easy to just ignore that inner whisper, pretend like you didn't even hear it, especially when it doesn't seem to make sense. Y'all know what I'm talking about. But guess what? Not all things are going to make sense. Do you think it made sense for Steve Jobs when he wanted to have a whole computer in his pocket?

Erica: No. Your intuition is often that thing that can tap into a level of understanding that your conscious mind hasn't even caught up with yet. And y'all, there is so much power in your unconscious mind. So if you're struggling with how to start trusting that intuition more, here's your challenge. Start with a journal and start documenting those moments where your intuition has guided you right.

Erica: I want you to reflect on what that moment was, how it felt, the choices you made, and what happened. And the simple process of just writing these down and keeping a log can help you start to trust your gut and lean into those uncertain moments with confidence. And y'all, when you can start trusting your gut and you start really just taking that next step without knowing what the end result might be, infinite possibilities. Right? That's exactly what Oprah Winfrey said.

Erica: Infinite possibilities. And for anxiety, I want you to view it as a messenger. Anxiety is pointing out the areas in your life that might need attention. Okay? I still struggle with worrying about what other people will think.

Erica: That anxiety that I felt about my issue at work, that's pointing out to me that I still need to do work on that sticky floor. But when you pair this awareness with your intuition's guidance, you can tap into this undeniable force that is going to literally launch you into success and it's not going to keep you stuck. And that's the whole point of this podcast, getting unstuck. So before I leave you, I want you to remember that both anxiety and intuition, they have their roles and they will show up time and time again in your life. Anxiety can teach us those valuable lessons while our intuition, our gut, can really light the path.

Erica: So the next time that you feel stuck, take a moment and really lean into that inner whisper and trust your gut feeling. Until next time friends, stop putting a ceiling on what is possible and start breaking through it. If you love today's episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a review. It really helps the message land into the hands of the person who needs to hear it most. I'll see you next time.