Graphic by Charles Butler
Seeing Is Believing - Isn't It? Do you trust your own mind? by Cinse Bonino

You meet a guy at a party. Everyone thinks that he is amazing. You agree that he IS gorgeous, and you can tell that he's really smart. You like the way he moves to the music that's playing and how he talks to everyone like they're more than worth his time and attention. The buzz is that he's got his eyes on YOU! Your friends are psyched. "This guy is hot!" they tell you. They think you should be flattered that you are the one he wants to get to know.

So why does your stomach feel like you need to get rid of your lunch like RIGHT NOW? What's wrong with you?

It might be better to ask yourself what's making your stomach so upset. Maybe it's your intuition telling you that something isn't right, that something doesn't match or jive or make sense. So what should you do? Here are three possible ways to handle the situation. Which one do you think you'd do?

#1 Go with the flow.
Believe your friends. After all, they' re all saying the same thing. How can they ALL be wrong? Surely you must be imagining things. You're probably just feeling nervous. Maybe you need to break out of your shell - maybe you don't have enough self-esteem to accept being chosen by such a popular guy. Chill out. Ignore your stomach and anything else that says danger.

#2 Tread lightly.
Assume that your friends are probably right, but don't ignore your stomach completely. Don't do anything undoable until you figure out who's right - them or you!

#3 Trust your feelings.
Trust your own interpretation of reality. Sure, go ahead, stay open to the idea that you may be wrong, but trust what you feel - even if it doesn't match what your friends say UNTIL you get evidence that your friends are right!

Not trusting your own view of what's going on doesn't mean that you are wacky or strange. Girls do it all the time. In fact a lot of girls do it. According to a great book called Odd Girl Out:

One of the chief symptoms of girls' loss of self-esteem is the sense of being crazy, of not being able to trust one's own interpretation of people's actions or events. Did she just look at her when I said that? Was she joking? Did she roll here eyes? Not save the seat on purpose? Lie about her plans? Tell me that she'd invited me when she hadn't?

Take our quiz and find out if YOU are a girl who trusts her own mind . . .