Have you ever noticed how, when you really pay attention, you can pick up on things that are off?

It’s like when you’re filling your water bottle. You can’t see inside, but somehow you just know when it’s getting close to full so you don’t let it overflow. Or when you grab a paper plate and instinctively sense you’ve picked up more than one.

Whether it’s making a right turn in the car, sensing a cold before it hits, or knowing when your kids aren’t being entirely truthful, we experience so many of these intuitive moments in our daily lives.

We should trust our gut when it tells us something isn’t quite right. Yet, more often than not, we talk ourselves out of it.

It’s like holding that water bottle under the dispenser, knowing it’s almost at the top but still hoping you can squeeze in just a little more. While I’m no expert on why we do this, I can tell you why I do.

For me, it comes from a deep-rooted desire to see the good in everything and everyone.

I know a water bottle has its limits — it can only hold so much. But when it comes to people, even when I get that uneasy feeling, I can’t help but hope I’m wrong.

I want to believe they’ll surprise me in a good way, even when all signs point in the opposite direction.

It was so much easier when we were young, wasn’t it?

Back then, you just knew to stay away from the kid that bites. You trusted your instincts without a second thought because things were simpler, more straightforward. If someone gave you a bad vibe, you just kept your distance — no overthinking, no internal debate.

But as we get older, those instincts get muddied by our hopes and desires. We start rationalizing, giving the benefit of the doubt, even when every fiber of our being is telling us something is off.

We want so badly for things to turn out differently, for that uneasy feeling to be wrong, that we sometimes ignore what our gut is screaming at us.

And yes, this whole topic came to me as I was filling my water bottle, and it was reaffirmed when I was prepping our coffee for the next day.

It’s in those small, everyday moments that these reflections hit me, reminding me of the power of intuition and the importance of trusting it.

Nonetheless, with all the disappointments, the occasional tears, and definitely the lessons learned, trusting my gut is something I’ll never regret. It’s part of who I am, and I’ve come to embrace that.

Someone once told me, there are seasons for everything, and there are seasons for people as well. You never know — while you might be in your favorite cozy season (for me, that’s fall), someone else might despise fall and only feel their light shining in spring.

So, this is from me to you: Trust your gut, embrace the seasons of life, and know that even when things don’t turn out as you hoped, you’re still moving forward, learning and growing.

And that, in itself, is something to be proud of.

Mother, author, entrepreneur, and founder of Dandelion-Inc, Lisa Resnick wants to hear your story. Share memories with her by emailing lisa@dandelion-inc.com.