The 9 Red Flags In Any Relationship

Business, personal, or otherwise

Photo by Goh Rhy Yan on Unsplash

Have you ever had a moment in which it dawned on you that something was seriously wrong between you and another person?

Perhaps you realize that you’re extremely unhappy in your job. Perhaps you realize that your friend has no respect for you as a person. Perhaps you realize that the potential buyer for your car is trying to take advantage of you.

Either way, you wonder why you didn’t see it right away. The red flags were huge, and you turned a blind eye. Why?

As social creatures, we like to assume that other people have our back and have our interests at heart. Deep down, most of us believe that other humans are (mostly) good. And depending on how, when, and where we were raised, most of us assume that others have good intentions.

That’s probably true. Most people are not malicious or psychopathic — only about 1 percent of the population. By the same token, most people are not entirely self-absorbed or narcissistic — that’s another 1 percent. In other words, 98 percent of people probably do care about others around them and favor healthy relationships. It makes perfect sense to assume the best when you meet a new person.

That said, there are many red flags that I wish I’d known before getting into some…