Does your family trigger you?
I think this is especially timely to ask, leading into the holidays. Is this a difficult time for you? What’s behind these feelings?
What It Means To Feel “Triggered”
When I say “trigger”, I don’t mean that you get a little bit irritated at the way someone chews their cereal, or leaves the cap off the toothpaste, for example.
Being triggered is when you feel like you’re overreacting at that moment to what the perceived problem is. Your reaction may be way over and above what is warranted for the current situation.
Being triggered is a result of having a situation poke a wound that is there from a previous experience in some way.
You getting triggered doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you, however.
Why You Might Feel Triggered
Maybe there is a loss that you’re processing, and it’s difficult for you or you feel alone in it. Maybe there’s some unresolved hurt, anger or blame.
You feel like you should be over it.
Or if you find that the family dynamics that you may be exposed to because of the holidays, spiral you back into old emotions that you’re trying not to get sucked into.
Sometimes I’ve found that when I went back to my family home, I went right back to being 12 years old again.
Sometimes those things just pull you in and you forget who you even are anymore.
If you find yourself looking ahead to the holidays, and it feels difficult, triggering, sad, hopeless, or even out of control, there is hope.
Working Through Feeling Triggered Using The Gentle Trauma Release Method
I want to share a story from one of my clients, who gave me permission to share her experience with feeling triggered. We’ll call her “Ally”.
Ally recently had a situation with her partner that triggered her emotionally. She felt flooded.. She couldn’t see her way out of it. She couldn’t control her responses. Her reactions were intense and on the outside, it would have seemed like she was “over-reacting”.
Ally was not in a good way when I talked to her, and she asked if I could support her with Gentle Trauma Release.
So we connected for our first call.
When we do Gentle Trauma Release together, those first few calls are usually to release some core traumatic events that have affected you.
In Ally’s case, we went to what had just happened, even though she knew that her past experiences were causing the intensity of this trigger.This current situation is what had flooded her and she was not feeling like herself.
On our first call, we released what had just happened, because it seemed necessary for her to be able to get some peace, some relief, and find her own perspective in this.
From Feeling Triggered To Feeling “Shockingly Better”!
I checked in with her a few days after our session and her words were that she felt “shockingly better”.
Not just a little bit better, literally, “I’m shockingly better”! Wow, right? This is just amazing to get relief in a short period of time!
Now I’m not saying that there’s instant and quick fixes for every situation and everybody, but to me, Ally’s experience just reinforces that you can start feeling better soon. You can start having hope.
What was interesting as well is that, because this response to this recent event had been released in her body, she was able to have a different perspective about this situation. She was able to see things differently.
So the question I have for you is: Does your family trigger you?
I’m talking about bigger stuff. Not just little irritations.
Do you have a plan to handle situations where you feel triggered?
I’m opening up five spots for women to work with me, one-on-one, starting in November, to get through the holidays and beyond.
This isn’t just about meal planning and getting your sleep.
This is about regulating your nervous system, feeling okay, and dealing with difficult emotions that show up at this time of year.
It’s about restoring your resilience, your sense of self, your sense of hope, whatever it is that you need to emerge from the holiday season, feeling really, really hopeful and excited for your future. This is about feeling good about who you are and where things are going.
This is for you to feel supported.
If my beautiful client, Ally, can feel shockingly better so soon, so can you.
I’m not just being overly optimistic. This is my experience over and over again.
When you’re able to release the bodily response of trauma, whatever it’s attached to (this is something that can be gently uncovered), you can feel shockingly better.
If you’re curious, reach out to me!
Your “triggers” might not be a specific person, but perhaps a loss or regret. Perhaps you wish things could be different but you’re not sure how that can be, and the holidays reinforce that sense of not being enough in some way.
Send me a message if you have any questions about the Gentle Trauma Release Method and how this may help you to feel shockingly better as we head into what can be for some, a challenging season to maintain your well being.