hello everyone. In this topic, I wanted to share a method that worked very well in my own sobriety journey. As you know, bad habits, like all other habits, are behavioral patterns learned over time. and these patterns are influenced by the environment, emotion, etc. in which the behavior is repeated. It is paired with other things in our brain. Since our brain is a useless garbage can, most of the time it is too late before we realize we have been triggered. and there are very few moments when we can get over it by thinking about it. Moreover, this is very consuming. It results in the person saying to himself, “Am I going to suffer from this for the rest of my life?” and being dragged back into that habit again.
There is a method I like to overcome this. I record the times when I get triggered during the day in my diary. for example:
7:18pm
hunger: Yes
angry: no
loneliness: No
thirsty: little
I went to my friend’s house for dinner and when I opened the fridge, I saw beer. This made me want to drink.
In this way, instead of trying to convince myself by thinking, by putting it on paper, I get it out of my mind and I can easily see my behavioral patterns.
I hope it will be useful to everyone who tries it. Thank you for reading.
Welcome to our community!
HALT is very common in recovery communities. The only difference is the T is usually tired. But keep doing whatever works for you.
Some of the ladies at my meetings change the H from hungry to horny. Whatever works for them too, right?
Anyway, glad you found us and hope to see you around the forum.
I’m sorry if I offended you. I used an exaggerated expression to avoid a very serious post. I wanted to express that the rational thinking part of our brain does not have as much control over our bodies and decisions as we think.
I think this is a great tool! I think there is something sooo useful about putting it down on paper. Then its much easier to also see patterns such as time of day or if any of HALT was effected etc. Great work!
23.10.2023
6:47 pm
Hungery: Very
Angry: No
Lonely: Little
Thirsty: Little
Tired: Yes
I got triggered thinking about how much less of our current family problems would have been if my family had listened to me on financial and business matters.
8:28 pm
Hungery: Very
Angry: No
Lonely: No
Thirsty: Yes
Tired: Yes
I went to my older brother’s office and worked extra hours to help him with his backlog. Our little brother also came to watch the Champions League match together. He brought something to drink. Naturally I was triggered.
00:06 am
Hungery: No
Angry: No
Lonely: No
Thirsty: Very
Tired: Very
As I got off the ferry and was walking home, I saw a discount at the liquor store.
6:27 pm
Hungery: No
Angry: Little
Lonely: Little
Thirsty: No
Tired: Yes
I have to work until midnight to get my backlog done. I can’t get over the idea of smoking tomorrow or the next day.
01:16 am
Hungery: No
Angry: Very
Lonely: Yes
Thirsty: Little
Tired: Exhausted
I worked until this hour. Thank God I cleared my backlog. Even though I was triggered frequently during the day, I didn’t keep a record. I shouldn’t do this again. Went to the market to buy nuts, I almost stopped buying something to drink.
Whatever works for them too, right?
. I can’t read a word of that, but I get the jist of it. 
