My Relapse Triggers
Emotional:
- Fear
- Anger
- Guilt
- Shame
- Hate
- Celebrations
- Finances
- Irritation
- Depression
- Bordum
- Jealousy
- Criticism
- Holidays
- Abandonment
- Anxiety
- Frustration
- Embarrassment
- Grief
- Nervousness
- Insecurity
My emotional triggers, “positive” and “negative” come from the same places. Wanting to fit in, ignore the emotions, “kill time,” create false joy, feel like I’m comfortable in social settings, hide my pain and feeling alone.
Mental:
- Meeting new people
- Furnature
- Movies/TV
- Places I used to hide my bottles and/or empties
- Home and cooking
- Feeling normal (if I even know what that is)
- Senses (touch, smells, sounds)
Like my emotional triggers, my mental triggers are very closely linked. I put meeting new people under mental and not emotional because I feel it’s more a mental thing, mental prepping myself for the social interaction that’s inevitable and the anxiety that is sure to follow.
The others also fall into mental ’cause they trigger brain habits of drinking. Watching TV and reaching for a wine bottle, even if one isn’t there. Home because that’s where I normally drink. How does one avoid home and remove it as a trigger?
I feel that negative, normal and positive feelings fall into both categories. Since I’m still learning what I feel and even how to feel without alcohol.
Smells and touch also fall into both categories for me. They bring up mental memories and emotional memories because of cooking with alcohol, the aroma, the feel and even now I can smell and taste it.