Self Help
What is a Trigger?
What is a trigger and how can you know what your triggers are? A trigger is something that triggers a response. Has a song ever affected your mood even for a little while? Pay attention to how you feel physically and mentally and when you started to feel that way. Notice what took place at that time. This will help you know your triggers. All day long every day we are affected by little things in positive and negative ways. Here we are focusing on how we can remove negative triggers as a form of self-love. Triggers tend to repeat the same response. This is why we should try to recognize and remove our negative triggers when we are able to. Below are some suggestions.
Turn Off the News
How often do you feel good after watching the news?
Photo by Amanna Avena on Unsplash
Uplifting news features are rare. You could avoid seeing and hearing so many negative and sad stories, not to mention all the ugly attacks. You might just find that you still hear about some of those good things too. Hopefully you surround yourself with people who discuss the uplifting reports. More on that below.
You Are Who Your Friends Are
Be choosy about who you surround yourself with. Negative people will bring you down. Sometimes it is not possible to completely avoid these people, however, you can limit your time with them or direct the conversations when you are around them. Do not be afraid to speak up and tell people that you wish to avoid discussing things that are triggering for you.
Unfollow Accounts
Scrolling through social media is a slippery slope. Unfollow accounts that don’t make you feel good. Learn how to create a feel-good feed here.
Stop Weighing Yourself
If you feel terrible after stepping on the scale, don’t do it!
Speak up at the doctor’s office and tell them you wish to avoid the scale unless it is necessary to prescribe medication. Learn about the Health At Every Size movement (HAES).
Eat for Health
This doesn’t mean eating “health food” but it does mean eating healthy food. What is healthy? For now, let’s just say, eat what makes your body feel good and be honest with yourself. Does that comfort food really feel good and comfortable in the end?
Limit your caffeine intake
I noticed I was having heart palpitations every night when I tried to relax. My morning coffee was to blame.
For someone who loves coffee, this was a tough one at first. What I realized is that I love the taste of coffee, not the caffeine. Considering that most of my life I have enjoyed my coffee black, it truly was the taste for me. I began drinking decaf coffee but you could switch to decaffeinated tea if you prefer. If you are a pop/soda drinker you can switch to decaffeinated versions too.
Mute the Commercials
If you are someone with health anxiety, do yourself a favor and avoid all those drug advertisements. If you can’t avoid them, remind yourself that they make their money from selling you, their drug. This is fearmongering at its finest. I have been forced to choose my seat in the waiting room strategically or close my eyes to avoid educational displays in medical offices. I have also been forced to wear earbuds and listen to a relaxing playlist while waiting to manage while an educational video discussing symptoms repeated over and over which was extremely triggering for me at the time. It’s amazing the things you can believe are wrong with you simply be hearing things
Start Today
Notice when your mood changes or if physical stress symptoms begin. Think about when those changes began. Many times when the trigger comes to mind you will notice an immediate response if you are focused on it. This is how you will know your triggers. What changes will you start with? Comment below what is working for you.
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