Between Fear and Intuition

Learning to follow the voice that feels calm, not the one that shouts

We live in a fear-based society.

“If you don’t do this, then that will happen.”
“Make sure you’ve got backup plans.”
“Prepare for the worst, just in case.”
“Don’t stop. Don’t pause. Keep going.”

The message hums underneath everything like a static electricity in the nervous system. It’s sharp, constant, invasive. It teaches us to act before feeling, to rush before sensing, to control what’s already unfolding. It rewards reactivity over reflection. Movement over meaning.

Can you feel it?

That buzzing frequency?
The tightening in your chest?
The subtle pressure in your shoulders?
The rising sense that something might fall apart if you don’t act now?

My chest tightens just writing these words.

The Frequency of Fear

Lately, I’ve started to realize that fear is not just an emotion, it’s a frequency. One we’ve been immersed in for so long, we take it for granted. It’s in the air we breathe. The content we consume. The systems we work in. It shapes the way we make choices, often without us realizing it.

It’s what drives productivity culture.
It’s what sells us solutions.
It’s what keeps us moving, even when our soul says stop.

And I was no exception.

When I started my business, I quickly realized just how deep that conditioning ran. Suddenly, I didn’t have a fixed salary. No roadmap. No system of external validation to tell me if I was doing it right.

People were asking me,
“How do you dare to quit your job in times like these?”
“Did you really just jump without any customers lined up?”

Even my old boss said,
“By no means believe you’ll get rich working for yourself. It’s a lifestyle. It takes all your time.”

So many voices — most of them well-meaning — nudging me back toward the safe road. I could have easily spiraled and have let the doubt in. I could have sighed and said, “Yeah… maybe you’re right. Maybe my plan isn’t solid enough..”

Of course the internal voices were there, sometimes louder than others. But I didn’t buy into them. Not enough at least to let them stop me from following through on my plan. That was because I had already found another frequency beneath all the noise. A voice that was was calmer, more grounded, and that kept whispering,

This is the right way.

Every time I felt the pull to choose the logical, secure path, I would tune back into that frequency and it always confirmed: Nope. That’s not for me. That’s not what my soul came here to do.

Anchoring in Spirituality

I’m really grateful I found the spiritual path, because it’s definitely made it easier to live without control or certainty. Some might call me naïve, and maybe I happily am, but I’ve decided to have faith in the universe. I’ve chosen to believe that as long as I stay authentic, and choose what feels right for me in the moment, the path will become clear. And for the most part, it has.

But it’s also taken me on a wild ride, and made me take a close look at myself. Only eight months into the entrepreneurial journey, I decided to take a break and travel to Asia for three months, just to make sure I spent all of my savings.

Because who goes traveling when they’re already bleeding money?
Apparently… I do.

The intention was to let go of limiting beliefs, reconnect with what matters, and reset my energy. There was a quiet spiritual instinct behind it, a sense that healing on the inside would ripple outward and support my business in ways I couldn’t predict.

One mantra kept me anchored throughout:
“Money vibrates at the same frequency as self-love.”

..again, I won’t be offended if you call me naïve.
But I’d rather risk that than let go of the belief that alignment is more powerful than strategy.

And I’m still here.
My business is doing better than ever.
I’m keeping afloat.
And I’m deeply grateful to be walking a path that truly feels like mine.

The Voice of Intuition

One of my oracle decks has a card called The Intuition. It gently reminds you that your true path will always be revealed through listening inward. The message is simple, but profound: Intuition will guide you toward choices that bring a deep sense of peace in the long run. Fear, on the other hand, is the ego’s way of keeping you safe in the moment. But true growth lies beyond that safety, and following your intuition can feel uncomfortable as it leads you into new territory.

Trust the voice that feels calm, not the one that shouts.

Fear urges us to make choices that protect us right now. It comes from an old instinct, one that once kept us safe as hunters and gatherers, alert to immediate danger. But in the modern world, that fear response often kicks in when we’re simply standing at the edge of change.

So how do you know?
How do you learn to distinguish between the two voices?

My best advice: meditate. Get quiet.

Whenever I’m faced with a difficult choice, I sit down, close my eyes, and picture each path. I imagine what it would feel like to choose one alternative, then the other.

And then I listen.

Does one of them feel expansive?
Do I feel my chest soften, my breath deepen, my heart open?
Does it feel like longing, calm, or even quiet excitement?

Or does it feel contracting?
Tight. Heavy. Dull.

That’s how I know. That’s how I sense what my soul — or the universe, or God, or whatever word you prefer — is nudging me toward. It’s not the voice that’s loudest.
It’s the one that feels most like home.

I believe the world would be a better place if more of us dared to do things differently.
If we followed through on our dreams instead of logically talking ourselves out of them. If we allowed faith to lead, even when the path isn’t fully visible.

So the next time you find yourself at a crossroads, ask:
Which voice feels calm?
Which one shouts?

Then trust the one that brings you closer to yourself.
It knows the way.

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Post-script: Letters from Apri City

Out here by the fjord, the air is different.

No hum of panic. No fluorescent buzz of productivity.
Just the soft thrum of the tide against the shore,
and a sky that doesn't rush to turn blue.

In Apri City, we’ve unhooked from urgency.
We don’t sprint toward certainty. We grow toward resonance.

We plant decisions like seeds — held first in the dark,
then whispered to by wind and water,
until they stretch open on their own.

We still remember the Time of Shouting.
When everything felt like an emergency,
and answers were hunted like prey.
When people feared stillness —
mistaking it for failure.
When doubt was louder than wonder.

It’s not like that anymore.

Fear still visits sometimes.
But we greet it at the gate with tea and ask what it needs.
Then we let it go home before sundown.

We’ve learned that trust doesn’t mean everything works out.
It just means we don’t abandon ourselves when it doesn’t.

We take care of each other.
We allow for trial and error.
We choose presence over prediction.

Out here, trust isn’t radical.
It’s the natural way of things.

With barefoot dreams and solar flares,
Astrid & Eira

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Tag along the journey, as Apri City continues to unfold.