I really empathize with this kind of thought process, and it also worries me a fair amount. I'm not sure what yall are being given by way of tools to understand what "listen to your body" actually means on a practical level, but here are some introductory tools for this my mother and other caregivers have taught me over my lifetime:
Sensations, feelings, and embodiment experiences are biofeedback - communication from your body to your mind and back about what you may need in order to continue functioning as best you are able. While these are not direct 1:1 communications (e.g. "I feel tired all the time so I'm going to go lay down and nap until that stops") they will still communicate information (e.g. "I feel tired all the time so I must not have the embodiment resources I need to be doing what I'm doing all day, I should see what I need more of such as fuel [food/nutrition], maintenance [rest or decompression], or repair [medical or mental health treatments and other care]")
When I'm tired, my first go-to is food, specifically either a sugar or a carbohydrate, some water, and then giving it 20min. If I feel better, I try to eat a carb and a protein to cap it off and then continue about my business! If I do NOT feel better, or am still tired after, I will try to do something that makes me feel joy or pleasant sensations. Hot bubble bath! A chocolate bar! A puzzle break, or some time in the garden or playing with my dogs. A cute text to my wife. A chapter of my current book. Just something to switch up my headspace and do something I enjoy. This is "decompression" for me, and typically does the trick if food doesn't. If even that fails, I go for sleep/rest, and if even that isn't working out, I start assessing my medical needs. Am I sick? In pain? Overstressed? Address that and accept my limitations until that's done. Do tasks in no more than 15min chunks wherever possible to keep from getting overloaded until the problem is resolved
Do regular biofeedback checks! I do four each day. Once each when I wake up and when I go to bed, once at 2pm, and once at 9pm. I'll also run them quickly in my head when I'm feeling off in some way. Helps me notice needs I may have missed before. It's nothing too fancy! I try to focus on breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, and just noticing things like pain, tension, discomfort, tiredness, confusion, etc. These are things that can tell me I may be missing a need as well.
I think a lot of us hear "listen to your body" and think "take my body's cues at face value", but it's usually goint to look more like noticing patterns in how you feel before and after meeting certain basic needs like food, rest, medical care, emotional security, etc. That helps you learn what your body is saying when it feels like that. There can be common responses! Like agitation (excitement, anxiety, anger, fear, stress, etc) will often look like shortened breath or a tightened chest, stomach aches or nausea, light headedness or sudden clamminess, irritability/reactivity, difficulty directing focus. But it will still have cues unique to you as well! My agitation cues also include pain due to a health condition, so when I find myself in a lot of pain, I will often respond to myself as if I am agitated in some way, and I'm usually right to! That won't be true for everyone, but many of us will have little variations like that and learning yourself is a lifelong process.
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