To Trust or Not to Trust

I'm a naive person. It's a battle I've been having my whole life.

To trust or not to trust.

In the past, I blindly trusted everyone. Sometimes, I didn't think twice.

When I was 14, I gave a stranger on facebook my address because he had the same last name as me.

When I was 23, I picked up an inebriated man off the street and drove him home.

When I was 29, I drunkenly got in a man's car I had just met that night.

These are only a few stories, but my life is littered with them.

I believe it comes from my desire to see the good in everyone. In everything.

I also think it comes from my childhood abusers being people I loved and trusted.

If we don't heal from our trauma, we recreate it.

But what's the answer then? Stop trusting?

I don't think so.

I believe my ability to trust is a gift.

And our gifts should be used with wisdom.

I had to train myself not to blindly trust everyone.

It's taken years, and it's still going.

I realize now I have to listen to my intuition.

That feeling in my gut that either says: "hell yes, you've got this" or "Uh, wait a minute..."

If the feeling is anything other than a resounding yes, then the answer is no.