Category: Trust

According to the video, she states that emotional triggers are anything that causes a strong response such as fight or flight.

Another way to think of it is that it is a survival instinct. Whether it is necessary or not.

A lot of the time, these triggers cause an inappropriate response that is very hard to understand for you and the people around.

Emotional triggers can be good or bad.

A good trigger would be smelling cookies in the oven which can trigger a memory of walking into your grandma’s who was always baking you something yummy, giving you a sense of comfort or joy.

A bad trigger is more of what people recognize.

A bad trigger is seeing someone that looks like an ex that you had a rough break up with. You have an intense reaction of fear or anger just by seeing a similarity within a complete stranger.

It sounds a little irrational, right?

Well, just last night I experienced that. I saw someone who, in the lighting, looked like my ex.

I froze.

My husband had told me who he was beforehand but I still reacted.

Did the guy or my husband know? No

I kept repeating what my husband had said and I knew it wasn’t him. It took me a minute but I managed to push through the trigger and no one had a clue that I had experienced such a surge of fear, so much so that I couldn’t move.

This all happened within a 30 second time frame but it felt like an eternity.

This event also occurred years after the abuse that created this trigger. I reacted quite well compared to how I have in the past.

I want to dive a little deeper into my past to expand upon this topic with another personal experience.

It was soon after I had married my current husband.

I had been in a silent struggle for a couple months because I was terrified to upset him. He never knew it nor would he understand it.

We got into an argument and he voice changed ever so slightly.

Next thing I know, my heart is racing and my hands are shaking. I can’t figure out if I am scared or just angry.

I have tears building and causing my vision to blur and when I looked at my husband..

It wasn’t him.

My heart was just about to crash through my chest as I am now face to face with my ex again.

I ran into the bathroom and hid.

Can you imagine what my husband of a few month was thinking??

Probably along the lines of what in the world just happened????

He didn’t sign up for life with me knowing that he was going to have to talk me down again and again.

After I had calmed down I talked to him about what had happened and he comforted me but that was only the first of many episodes..

PTSD is a serious thing and it takes serious work to live with.

You hear a lot about soldiers having PTSD and that they are triggered by a lot of things that would make you want to crawl under a rock than try to deal with it.

You don’t hear about people recovering from abusive relationships or even a mom that had a traumatic delivery.

But here is the problem with all of it.

Your mental health is so important, whether you have served this country or whether your a single mom just trying to get by.

Everyone at some point has picked up a trigger or two, not always good ones.

Through a bad relationship, being laid off, a death of a loved one, a traumatic experience, a dead beat parent, a bully, etc.

You are not alone. You may feel crazy when you are triggered because you can’t even explain why you react the way you do.

Many will try to avoid the triggers and many successfully do for a while but is that healing??

You don’t heal from a broken bone by just avoiding it or ignoring it.

Triggers are like this open wound that has been left untreated so it starts to fester then the pain really sets in.

No one likes to get a cast or to get a wound debridement but sometimes it is necessary so that you can heal properly.

Are you getting it yet??

By avoiding triggers, you are avoiding healing.

By avoiding triggers, your health is declining.

By avoiding triggers, you can not move forward.

It is not easy.

I avoided my triggers to the best of my ability and by doing so my life began to fall apart.

I would shut down, put up walls, avoid going out.

I have been working on myself for years and I find more triggers as life goes on.

Know that I am not saying it will be easy but you are not alone and you will survive this because if you are striving to heal then the triggers will fade and will become bearable.

Instead of running to the bathroom to hide, you will be able to remind yourself of what the truth is and win the battle raging in your mind.

Reach out, work on yourself, and move forward.

Do you have any triggers, big or small, that you avoid?

Are there ways you think might help you get through a trigger? If so comment them.

You never know who your tip might help.