Triggers

Ah, the hot word: triggered. “I’m so triggered right now!” I hear the younger generations say this one far too often. Everyone get’s triggered. It’s a part of life, but what are we actually doing about it? Other than just saying the catch phrase? I had an interesting experience recently where I knew the finger was on the trigger, and I was a hair away from letting out a chain of emotions that probably have been stored in my body since 2005. I had to stop, breathe, and then sit with the trigger for awhile. Journal it. Understand it. Befriend it. Forgive it. Triggers aren’t going anywhere, so we should take the time to identify them, learn some emotional regulation strategies to help us in the moment, and then find out where they come from. The last thing we want is for our reactions to cloud our everyday hard work or our character. We will be better for it and so will the people around us.