As I understand it one of the most important steps to recovery is recognizing your triggers and learning how to avoid or cope with them.
For me it’s mostly boredom and stress.
The simple act of having nothing to do fills me with anxiety so I turn to the bottle. Stress and depression cause me to over do it and I wake up next to an empty bottle checking my phone and hoping I didn’t say anything incredibly stupid to anyone.
I’m still working on coping with these triggers.
What are your triggers and how do you deal with them?
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My trigger is users. Any time I am around anyone using I use. Since I started 2 years ago i do it once a month. Meth is everywhere in San Diego and I always seem to run into someone using. I don’t personally know any users everyone in my life is sober. Maybe I subconsciously intend to run into it. I just admitted to myself 20 days ago that I’m an addict.
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Same exact reason for me. I try to plan things to do everyday to keep busy. When i have nothing to do and i start getting that uneasy feeling I get on here and read or post
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Good luck with your journey, John. Glad you’re here man. This forum and the counter have been good for me so far.
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My drinking has largely been an attempt to deal with feeling overwhelmed, depressed, or to quell anxiety, so that triggers me more than any social or environmental factor. I deal with it by practicing saying “no” to myself and having that be absolutely non negotiable. Instead of “no I can’t have that drink now” I have to make it “no, that cannot and will not be an option ever again”.
I certainly try to avoid my triggers as well, but I can’t avoid every trigger in life so it’s important that I keep my “never again” solid and immovable.
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Thanks you, good luck to you also. I’m almost to 30 days that’s usually when I relapse. Hopefully when that time comes the counter and positive talk with all of you gets me past that 30 days. How do I add a photo of myself in that little bubble next to name lol
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2 years ago I was a drinker. I’m 2 years sober not one drink. Now unfortunately the new addiction has got to go. Keep it up buddy. Drinking was a hard one. I couldn’t find a happy place for awhile with that one. All my friends socially drink. Now I can be around it and just socially and sip on a Mountain Dew and be ok.
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Go to your profile, change the drop down menu that says Activity and change it to Preferences. Then in the menu to the right of that one, change it to Account. If you scroll down you should see an option to upload a profile picture.
Cool I put the goofiest picture I could find lol I never would have found that. Thank you.
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I haven’t been tempted to drink when others do in front of me, or when I’m at a pub or anything, and nobody I hang out with is very into drinking, so thankfully the social part isn’t all that difficult for me.
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I saw that after I replied to it. The first time I scanned it. I went back and read it after I replied. Well that’s a good thing. Stress and depression was also a trigger for me along with social settings Not saying you need it but for me I started taking Prozac and it was great for the depression. And for anxiety I take very low doses of Ativan all prescribed and can be habit forming!
Yep. Was taking Prozac among other things but right now I’ve been taken off all my meds to give my liver a break. No Ativan for me, I’ve been able to strengthen my coping skills to the point where I don’t need it anymore. If my anxiety overflows my coping skills at this point, my history indicates it’s too late for even higher doses of Ativan to help. I’ve been given somewhere around 16 different psychiatric medications over the course of my life at varying doses. Thankfully in general my doctors have supported developing skills instead of pushing pills. The meds help me keep things together just enough to employ my coping skills and sobriety tools, which deal with the bulk of the stuff that goes on in my mind.
Another trigger I thought about was habits. If I’m returning home, I get thoughts of “do I need to restock liquor on my way home” still, but now of course the answer is always no, and I move on. It doesn’t hold real strength over me, but it’s something to be watchful for if I ever do get tempted to relapse again.
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H.A.T.L., PMS is a scary one for me 
, evenings…
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Wait til peri menopause 
that’s when the shit really hit the fan
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No freakin’ doubt, @anon44659383. Right there with you, sister. The rage is real. Add being a mom of preschoolers? Gaaaaahhhhh!!!
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Only triggers I have are on my guns. Only excuses to drink, never reasons to.
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You’ll get through it but it drags on for so long😦 I’m past it now only because I had a full hysterectomy 2 years ago so no more raging. But it was horrible, I kept ignoring the depression because I didn’t understand what was happening until it turned into anxiety and I called my doctor. I totally was that old miserable bitch I talked about when I was younger😅
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Pretty much anything and everything.
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Let’s see … Going out to dinner … The high after the gym, so I don’t go😂 … Getting over excited at work … Complacency … Sunday … Monday … Tuesday …
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My biggest triggers are loneliness, depression and self loathing. They all seem to go hand in hand. When we put our dog down I was full of so much grief and regret and anger at myself. Big trigger. When I feel like no one cares (lies my mind tells myself), I’m tempted. The week before my period I get extremely depressed and always start romanticizing using.
I’ve finally recognized all of these and working on ways to combat them.
Being around other people who drink, seeing recipes or anything like that doesn’t tempt me in the least, very thankful about that.
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