Identify your triggers!

[Sam]

Triggers are external events or circumstances that may produce very uncomfortable emotional or psychiatric symptoms, such as anxiety, panic, discouragement, despair, or negative self-talk. Reacting to triggers is normal, but if we don't recognize them and respond to them appropriately, they may cause a downward spiral, making us feel worse and worse as time goes on. We need to become more aware of our triggers and develop plans to avoid or deal with triggering events, thus increasing your ability to cope and staving off the development of more severe symptoms.

What are your triggers and how did you first identify them?

I will post my own below.

Happy reading

~S

[Sam]

A massive trigger of mine is hunger. It turns me into a red eyed monster until my belly is popping and I haven't the energy to look at anybody never mind snap their head off. I was once told that when I am hungry I act like a baby....so I just kind of discarded that as negative nonsense-it was mid argument after all. Then I started to notice it myself....I become agitated very quickly, I am angry and aggressive. I feel like a small child. 30 years young and for however long I have been slightly relying on a mood swing to tell me I need feeding.

~S

[Sam]

Being tired also triggers a mass of negative, extremely undesirable effects/reactions.

I cry when I am tired, I can't cope. I walk around like something out of Kevin and Perry. I revert back to my teenage days. I hold my breath and build up pressure in my head to try alleviate the tension which in hind sight is probably having the opposite effect. Then I tell myself over and over that I never get enough sleep, that nobody 'allows' me to sleep and that it's everyone's fault but my own.

~S