I was living in a condo when the fire alarm rang in the middle of winter. I wasn’t sure if it was a false alarm. I wondered if I should wait and see if it’ll stop or if I should I start walking more than ten flight of stairs . Eventually I listened to the alarm, grabbed my coat, and headed outside.
In this situation, the fire alarm was external and extremely audible. There was no way for me to ignore it. Easy enough to pay attention to, right? But what about all the alarms we don’t visibly see or hear.
Some of us feel it inside that something is wrong but we don’t listen to our internal alarm, our “gut feeling”.
Could you be in a friendship where all your friends do is take from you but never give? They expect you to always be available when they need something but when it’s your turn, they somehow are always busy. You know something is wrong but you are just too afraid to lose a friend. Your alarm is buzzing but it’s too faint for you to listen to it. You don’t even think of asking yourself, is this friend really a friend and what forces me to stay in this kind of friendship? They are my friends since kindergarten…so what? Are they treating you like a good friend, are they caring about you? Who says the longest lasting friendships are the right ones for everyone?
Could you be in a toxic or abusive relationship? Shouldn’t those visible bruises be an alarm ? Should you be getting help to get out of that situation? It may not be firefighters in this case but there’s definitely someone who can help.
Could you be working in a toxic environment, causing you unfair stress and lack of sleep? Do you feel that your personal boundaries are being overstepped? Is it normal that during the weekend when you should be off that your boss is texting you to do some work? Do you feel like you can do so much more than the tasks being asked of you? Are you afraid to ask for better opportunity, better salary that you deserve, better work environment? Why? Isn’t this fear some type of alarm?
When something doesn’t feel right, listen to your self, pay attention…is this my internal alarm ringing?
