Stress is a trigger 4 me , i express to my family that i wanna smoke , they are all understanding of my venting but remind me that ive made so much progress ,
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Thereâs lots of triggers, mostly emotional for me: feeling overwhelmed is a big one. If I tried to avoid them I would spend my whole day locked in my room, with people trying to call me: first my employer would call, then when my employer gave up, my bank would call, then things would go downhill from there.
For me I am learning to âlean inâ to the stress, and take it as a chance to connect with helpful people. I read some recovery writing - in my books, or here on TS - I contact friends in recovery. It isnât all sunshine and rainbows but I have found that the stress passes. The recovery chats help me see some perspective on it.
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Drinking was my fix for all.
Stress, anxious, happy, depressed, birthday, canât sleep? Etc. Name it my plan A fix.
What helped me was to find a plan B. It was not as âgoodâ, it didnât numb me but it helped a bit.
So when stressed and having cravings I remind myself at plan B. The brain has to get used to that too. So that helped me a bit (ps my plan B is chocolat).
Some triggers you can avoid. Like for me eating a pizza leads me to big cravings for read wine. So the first months of my recovery I didnât eat pizza. I also avoided some alcohol related parties, friends and places untill I had more strenght and sober days.
And what also helps me is reminding myself that a craving comes and goes. I will not die, it will pass and I will be happy when I remain sober.
Hope this helps a bit 
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My trigger is me. My mindset, because to be honest Iâm so strong willed and determined, no friend or family member could make me drink if I donât want to. To do that is solely based on my mind and the delusional thoughts it generates. Thoughts like âyouâre not an addict because of outward successes i.e great job, car, house etcâ or â youâve been able to refuse or control your alchol use before, just have a beerâ. Thoughts along those lines. Thoughts that dim the severity of the reality of my illness. You see Iâve done so many embarrassing and life threatening things when intoxicated and as a way of coping with the shame or guilt, i have to delude myself by minimizing the weight of the situation. So i just turn everything into dark humor and carry on as though nothing happened. I mean yea i crashed my car but atleast i got no broken bones insert dry laughter here
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I do not believe itâs you, as well as I believe itâs not me either in my own addiction.
I am not my addiction.
Triggers are the things that give cravings to use.
Itâs part of your addiction to a substitute. Itâs not me ore you. But If you mean that you are the only one who can stop this? Yes, thatâs you, with help from others.
That voice in my head thad used to talk me into drinking is my addiction voice. I gave it a name: Winewitch. It helped me to split that voice as a part of me. It helped me to adress the addiction part of me (itâs hard for me to give this words because English is not my native language ).
So when cravings kick in and that voice is trying to lure me back in I adress it as my winewitch and I curse here and come here to talk ore find another distraction to pull me trough.
Dry laughter is not bad, it can help you to relativize a bit maybe. Cars are just things, glad you are safe! 
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Chronic pain is my main trigger. I would love to connect with anyone who struggles with this trigger too. Having a supportive accountability partner would be so helpful. Itâs really hard for me to think of giving up drinking completely as it can help my pain, but I know in the long run alcohol makes it so much worse.
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My biggest trigger used to be intense emotion. Stress and feeling overwhelmed were on the top of that list. In early recovery, i would make sure to take extra breaks thruoughout the day to help manage my stress. Id take care of that stress as soon as it popped up, instead of letting it brew all day and then feeling sooo stressed out that i wanted to use. Exercise, distraction, self care, deep breathing, grounding techniques were all things i did to help me manage. Now my first thought ISNT to use drugs when i feel emotion. Its more about taking care of self.
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Everyone has different triggers. Mine is always running into people from my past. If you feel super anxious or panicky then leave. Whatever ur doing no matter where u are ur sobriety has to come first love. Its hard believe me i know. Took me many many years to even get clean muchless stay clean. Stress is also a big trigger for a lot of people. Or even driving near neighborhoods wete u used to go to get stuff. It gets better I PROMISE 1 day at a time.
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