In the Noise of Advice: Learning to Hear Yourself
- Talisa Haskins
- Sep 3
- 3 min read
Finding clarity and calm in a world of overwhelming advice
Written by Talisa Haskins
Everywhere we look, someone is telling us how to live better. Scroll through social media, and you’ll find a dozen morning routines that promise success. Open a podcast, and there’s a guru explaining how to “hack” your productivity. Even casual conversations often come sprinkled with advice: “Have you tried this?” “You should really do that.”
We live in an era where guidance is more available than ever—but also more overwhelming. The irony is that, with all the tips and self-help strategies floating around, it can be harder to know what actually fits you. What resonates deeply, and what’s just another “should” adding noise to your already full mind?
The truth is, the most important voice in the room is often the quietest one: your own. Learning to hear yourself is less about silencing the outside world and more about building the skill of discernment. It’s about pausing long enough to notice: Does this advice expand me or shrink me? Does it align with my values, my energy, my season of life?
In this blog, let’s explore how to sift through the sea of well-meaning tips and reconnect with your inner compass—because self-help should feel like support, not pressure.
The Problem with Too Much Advice
Advice is not inherently bad—most of it is offered with good intentions. But when it’s constant and contradictory, it can create what psychologists call decision fatigue. You may find yourself bouncing between other people’s frameworks, starting and stopping new habits, and second-guessing whether you’re “doing life right.”
Too much advice can also shift your focus outward. Instead of developing self-trust, you end up outsourcing your judgment. Over time, this can make your own inner wisdom feel quieter, harder to access, or even untrustworthy.
What Does It Mean to “Hear Yourself”?
Hearing yourself doesn’t mean ignoring all outside input. It means becoming aware of your body’s signals, your emotional responses, and the quiet nudges of intuition that arise when you slow down.
Sometimes hearing yourself is noticing that a new routine leaves you more drained than energized. Sometimes it’s acknowledging that while a book or influencer’s advice worked for them, it doesn’t align with your season of life. And sometimes, it’s simply making space for silence, so your own thoughts can have room to form.
How to Tune In
Here are a few practices that can help you sift through the noise and reconnect with your inner compass:
Pause Before You Implement When you come across a new tip, ask yourself: Do I actually want to try this, or do I feel like I should? Giving yourself permission to pause interrupts the cycle of impulsively adopting every piece of advice.
Check for Resonance Notice your body’s reaction. Does this idea feel energizing, hopeful, grounding—or does it feel heavy, stressful, or guilt-inducing? Your body often knows before your brain does.
Create Quiet Space Build in small moments of silence—whether that’s journaling, taking a walk without your phone, or simply breathing deeply for a few minutes. These pauses clear space for your own voice to emerge.
Experiment Gently Rather than overhauling your life with someone else’s plan, try things in small doses. Pay attention to whether they truly support you. If not, let them go without judgment.
Anchor in Your Values The easiest way to filter advice is to measure it against what matters most to you. When you’re clear on your values, it becomes easier to see what fits and what doesn’t.
A New Relationship with Self-Help
Self-help, at its best, should feel like support. It should encourage you, not pressure you. It should expand your sense of what’s possible, not shrink you with guilt about what you “should” be doing.
When you begin to hear yourself clearly, you can approach advice with curiosity instead of urgency. You can appreciate guidance without being consumed by it. And most importantly, you can trust that the ultimate authority on your life is you.
Final Thought
We live in a time when answers are everywhere. But perhaps what we need most isn’t another tip or strategy—it’s permission to listen inward. The wisest advice may not come from a podcast, a book, or a friend. It might be the quiet, steady voice you’ve been carrying all along.
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