What are your triggers?

Did you ever walk by a person on the street whose perfume reminded you of a very specific memory? Or make sand castles on a beach and the feeling of sand on your fingers got you mentally reliving an unforgettable day from your childhood? These may all very well be an example of triggers, and they kind of work the exact same way for traumas too.

A heavy topic to start with, I know.. But we all have to start somewhere, right? So let's start with defining trauma triggers. They are stimuli of any kind that cause you to involuntarily relive a traumatic event in your mind. Chances are, you already know what are your triggers. But maybe you don't. Maybe you only know that there's a memory in your head you wish you could stop replaying.

An important point to note is that triggers aren't necessarily always sensory in nature. Sometimes you may find yourself in a conversation where the other person used a word or a phrase you've heard at a darker time before, and suddenly you start to notice all the similarities in your physical surrounding now and at the time of the traumatic event.. this is called a situational trigger. It's also possible that getting into an argument with your friend caused a similar emotional reaction in you that you had when your ex broke up with you.. this is called an emotional trigger.

Now for the hard part: how do you recognize them? It may seem counterintuitive at first, but if you want to know what triggers you, you have to know what being triggered feels like. For me - I feel my heart beating faster than usual, my body freezing in one spot involuntarily (the lesser known cousin of the Fight and Flight brothers), and my mind automatically starting a traumatic memories playlist on shuffle. But it might manifest differently in your body. Maybe your heartbeat slows down. Maybe you start to feel scared or unsafe. Maybe you sweat. Maybe you want to scream. Whatever is your body's immediate physical and emotional response immediately before you're reminded of your trauma, is your trigger. And however it shows up for you, know that it's okay, and that it's going to be okay.

Credit: Bricolage // Shutterstock

School didn't teach you how to recognize and recover from your trauma. Apologies for the assumption, but I'm guessing your parents didn't either. So that makes trauma recovery another one of the long list of topics that you just have to learn and figure out for yourself "when you grow up". As much as I wish that I could, I cannot teach it to you either. But what I can do is share stories with you of what works for me, and what works for the people who were brave enough to speak up about it. And hopefully you find a story that makes you feel the way I want you to feel: not alone.

Stay tuned to Reclaiming My Voice to learn more about trauma recovery, and feel free to share these posts with loved ones who could use a little feeling heard and seen.