When the Noise Gets Loud, Listen to Yourself
The news this past week has been nothing but scary. I am listening to my local reporters tell me to stay inside because the air quality is dangerous from the Canadian forest fires and to stop eating salads because of a cyclospora outbreak, a parasite linked to contaminated fresh produce in several states.
Am I letting all the noise take over?
No.
That doesn't mean I ignore the information. I pay attention. I wash my fruits and veggies carefully. I may choose where I buy it a little more thoughtfully. If the air quality is poor, I move my exercise indoors or shorten my time outside. Being informed is different from being overwhelmed by every headline.
But it did get me thinking about how easy it is to let outside noise drown out our own inner wisdom when it comes to our health.
For years, so many of us have been taught that there is always something to worry about when it comes to food. One week we hear that eggs are bad. The next week they're good. Coffee is unhealthy until it's suddenly protective. Carbs are the enemy until someone tells us we need more whole grains. Social media doesn't help. Every scroll seems to introduce another ingredient we should eliminate or another "healthy" food we should suddenly question. It can become exhausting.
One of the greatest gifts intuitive eating has given me is the ability to pause before reacting. Instead of asking, What should I worry about now? I ask, What information is actually useful to me? There's a difference.
The noise is loud. Wisdom is quiet. The noise tells us to throw everything away, to avoid entire food groups, to never trust our bodies. Wisdom reminds us that our bodies are incredibly resilient. It reminds us that one meal, one news story, or one social media post doesn't define our health. And the same is true beyond food.
We are constantly surrounded by messages competing for our attention. The economy. The weather. Our bodies. Aging. Politics. Disease. While many of these concerns are real, living with constant mental noise takes a toll. It affects our sleep, our digestion, our relationships, and yes, even our relationship with food. Intuitive living isn't about pretending difficult things don't exist. It's about responding instead of reacting. It's learning to gather information without allowing every headline or opinion to dictate how we live. That doesn't mean being careless. It means being thoughtful. It means trusting yourself enough to make reasonable decisions without allowing outside noise to become the loudest voice in the room.
As I sat eating my salad this week, I smiled and I simply enjoyed my lunch, grateful for fresh food and recognizing that living well has never been about eliminating every possible risk. Life simply doesn't work that way. Health isn't built on perfection or certainty. It's built on consistency, flexibility, connection, movement, nourishment, and self-trust.
The headlines will change next week. They always do. If you've noticed that all the noise has started making your decisions for you, whether around food, your health, or simply living your life, know that you're not alone. It can be incredibly difficult to know which voices to trust when there is so much conflicting information coming at us every day. My hope is that you learn to trust one voice a little more than all the others: your own. And if you've lost touch with that voice, that's okay too. Sometimes we all need a little guidance finding our way back. Learning to trust yourself again is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, and it's a journey you don't have to take alone.