In hindsight, I’ve never been able to discern certain negative personality traits and behaviors as troublesome red flags, unless such conduct was so “painfully obvious”, that even a socially challenged, autistic person like me could recognize it. To this present day I misunderstand, or incorrectly judge other people’s intentions with me. That inability to clearly identify such red flags got me into unbecoming situations, or friend- and relationships more often, than I care to admit.
What I have instead, is my intuition. It was a bit of a learning process, to listen and place value into what that little whisper from within tried to warn me about. I’m sure that I missed out on meeting some truly nice people, because I ended up not giving them a chance. They might have turned into amazing friends, it is my loss. Sadly, after some of the experiences of the past, I prefer to steer clear of people, rather than ending up with the “wrong person” in my life one more time.