What Does YELLOW Look Like for You?

Most people can describe what it feels like to be overwhelmed. Fewer can describe what happens before they get there.

That earlier point matters.

Your YELLOW may be a tightness in your shoulders. Perhaps you start checking your phone repeatedly, become impatient with small interruptions, or find it hard to leave work behind at the end of the day. Someone else’s first sign may be poor sleep or a mind that keeps replaying conversations.

There is no single warning sign that fits everyone. To recognise yours, think back to a recent demanding week.

What changed first?

Did your body feel different? Did your thoughts become harder to settle? Did the people around you receive a different version of you?

Now go one step further: What was putting pressure on you at that time?

This is where proactive stress management begins. You connect the demand with the early change it produces in you. Once you can see that connection, you have a chance to respond: clarify a concern, adjust a commitment, take a pause, speak to someone or make time to recover.

Try completing this sentence:

“I know my stress meter is moving towards YELLOW when I begin to…”

Write down two or three signs you can actually observe. Keep them somewhere you will see them.

You do not have to wait until life feels unmanageable to check how you are doing. Your earliest signs may give you the best opportunity to act.

Don’t wait for RED. Learn to notice YELLOW.

— Nelson Negi
COPLER | Human Formation