traffic light philosophy |

Oscar de la Renta 

Red, yellow, green. 

Stop, slow down, go. 

As drivers, the traffic light mentality is pretty much ingrained in our minds. But what about when it comes to life? Is there anything we can learn from watching traffic lights? 

Apparently yes. 

This is something that my dad told me about today as I was explaining to him about "the quarter life crisis", a phenomenon that seems to be becoming increasingly common in our cohort of early 20-somethings. 

Especially this year, where most of the people I know are going through some kind of transition - finishing uni, starting a career, taking on further education or taking a gap year. As with any transition, we end up feeling just a little bit out of control, sometimes surprised, other times disappointed, all the while feeling a little bit confused and on edge as we try and grasp the new obstacles confronting us. 

I'm one of those that don't really deal well with transitions. I guess not many of us like to feel constantly confused and sometimes it gets to a point where you feel like you're just fighting an uphill battle, leaving you feeling a bit dejected about it all. 

Today was one of those days of feeling dejected, appropriately accompanied by gloomy rainy weather.  

To help me change my perspective on things, Dad told me a story about the traffic light philosophy which goes something like this: think of life as driving to a destination.

 When you're driving, sometimes you'll get lucky and get green lights the whole way.

Most of the time, you'll get a combination of red, yellow and green lights. 

Sometimes, as we have probably experienced, you end up with a series of red lights, stopping you at every single intersection. 

But no matter how many red, green or yellow lights you get, you will end up at your destination. 

Assuming that you know where you are going in the first place. 

I guess each one of us will interpret the traffic light philosophy differently. Personally, I find that thinking about the obstacles we come across in life as red lights at intersections helps to shift that "woe-is-me" mentality to something more positive, and once you start looking at things in a positive instead of negative light, everything else seems to move along (or at least become a little more bearable). 

I decided to share this with you all today because I know that at some point, we all have to face our own set of red lights. Perhaps, like me, you are confronting them right now, in which case, I do hope that you have found this to be somewhat enlightening. 

What are your thoughts on the traffic light philosophy? 

xoxo