How Not to Be Trigger Happy: Resolve your Triggers in Four Easy Steps

Sometimes It Feels Easier To Just Avoid Them... Here’s why it’s important to resolve your triggers and get back to the real you!

Nowadays, it seems as if everyone is being triggered. And rightfully so during a time of constant uncertainty and change. The pandemic has triggered substantial emotional, physical, and financial problems worldwide,[1] particularly anxiety and fear. [2] Based on our experiences and understanding of the word and its concept, I know by just saying it, or reading this post, some of us might be triggered. I am a firm believer that triggers are our responsibility. You can heal yourself and resolve your triggers. For many of us, our awareness of our life’s purpose is linked to increasingly contentious relationships as well as a progressively greater sense of having lost control of our lives [3]

 

What is a Trigger?

According to American Psychological, a trigger is defined as a stimulus that elicits a reaction.[4] Psych Central goes on to state that a trigger is something that sets off a memory tape or flashback transporting the person back to the event of her/his original trauma.[5] These stimuli can cause a person to feel overpowering depression, anger, sadness, anxiety, and a variety of physical symptoms. [6] It is often associated with reactivation, reactualization [7] , or retraumatization.[8] Resolving triggers and healing yourself is paramount to your physical and mental well-being.

Read More: How Does Emotional Health Impact Physical Health?

How to Resolve Your Triggers?

1. The first step in resolving your trigger is awareness. This is the most challenging step in resolving your triggers. Most people are unaware the emotion or reactions they display are due to triggers. Once you understand your trigger, it is your duty not only to yourself to resolve your triggers. It is critical in the process of your growth which allows us to show up better in this world when we resolve them.
2. The second step in resolving your trigger is accountability. This again is taking accountability for your triggers and not blaming others for your triggers. This involves acceptance and understanding when you are triggered; it is not the other person’s fault. The responsibility is yours.
3. The third step is the identification of the source. This process has to be very intentional. To understand the source of your triggers, you have to be willing to go within and ask yourself the simple but yet sometimes difficult questions. For example, why do I get angry when someone omits the truth.? Why do I get mad when my partner speaks to someone of the opposite sex? Why do I feel unworthy when I leave a relationship? Why when someone says X I get annoyed?
4.  The fourth and final stage in resolving your triggers is internal detachment. Depending on the type of personality you have, this stage can come fairly easy or be rather difficult; either way, have compassion for yourself as you work through this detachment. When you are able to detach the action, inaction from your emotional response, you have successfully resolved your trigger.

Now be mindful because there are always varying degrees of stimuli rooted in the same trigger source. Now what I mean by that is although you might have thought you resolved the trigger, when it shows up in a way you hadn’t thought about, it might elicit the same emotional feeling or reaction from you. When this happens, know it’s okay, and this is just another level or aspect trauma source. This is another opportunity for you to practice this 4-step resolution process to resolve your triggers and heal yourself.

 

Why Do You Need To Resolve your Triggers?

Resolving your triggers allows you to have more freedom over your life. When you are able to live life without constantly reacting to various stimuli, you are in control of your destiny. You are finally in the driver’s seat. You cannot create the life you want, allowing your emotions or programmed reactions to triggers to determine how you conduct yourself. Not to mention the psychological impact of triggers. Triggers cause stress, and over time, continuous activation of triggers causes emotional distress, which eventually leads to disease.[9] Now ask yourself, is your trigger really worth your life?  Exactly, which is why important to resolve your triggers and healing yourself so you can get back to the real you.

 

Read More: How To Be Happy Being You: Create Your Own Reality Where You Love Your Life?

 

Sources:

1. https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/post-covid-stress-disorder-emerging-consequence-global-pandemic
2. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.581314/full
3. https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/survey-americans-reach-a-record-level-of-unhappiness
4. https://dictionary.apa.org/trigger
5. https://psychcentral.com/lib/what-is-a-trigger#1
6. https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/recognizing-and-easing-the-physical-symptoms-of-anxiety
7. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jts.20089
8. https://econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/10.1027/1016-9040.11.2.137
9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5959313/#:~:text=Psychological%20distress%20increases%20risk%20of,low%20and%20moderate%20distress%20levels.