Here’s Why We Need To Stop Ignoring Yellow Flags

Have you ever had something happen to you that you already knew would happen? The thing is, you knew you could’ve avoided it, but instead you blew through the yellow light. You didn’t heed the warning. Matter of fact, you sped up and ignored it.

Everyone always talks about those red flags and red lights, but no one mentions the yellow ones. When you’re driving, yellow means slow down or caution, right? Then how come most of us disregard such a cautious color? Before red even appears, there is always yellow. The problem is, you don’t acknowledge it. You ignore it because it’s always in the form of some easily ignored message or sign. It’s so easily disregarded that you keep on going without a second thought.

The thing is, you’re not alone. You’re not the first to ignore a yellow flag, and you won’t be the last. We all do it because somehow the yellow flag has become so insignificant to us that we act shocked when we see a red one. It’s important that we began to dig into the reason behind our disregarding of the yellow flags. We ignore the less concrete caution sign because we don’t trust ourselves.

If you think about it, red means halt, and it is a universal meaning. This definition isn’t up for our interpretation, so it gives us no say so in the matter. It has been interpreted for us, so we have no choice but to abide. It’s not the same with yellow. We know what we should do at the yellow, but it’s easily ignored and not as universal. The yellow flag and or light is supposed to make us think. It’s in place for us to proceed with caution if we deem it necessary. So, how we deem something is based on what we think and or feel in that moment. So, again what do you think when you see red?

Picture yourself driving and the light turns yellow. What do you do? Do you smash on the breaks or do smash on the gas? Now imagine if the light never turned yellow. What if the light turned red right after that 30-second green? You’d have to stop, right? Our problem is that we are so used to incurring red flags that we don’t even acknowledge the yellow one that came before it.

Believe it or not, when something happens to us that we know we could’ve prevented, that means that we did incur that yellow flag. These cautious flags may come in any form, but we must heed them. If we pay attention and trust ourselves, then we’ll avoid the red flags in their entirety. There won’t be any more red flag talk if we just learn to trust ourselves!