Understanding Stress Triggers

It's not always easy to deal with triggers, but it is possible.

When you're an entrepreneur, your brain is constantly being stimulated. You have to stay on top of so many things at once—from running your business to managing your relationships to making sure you don't forget to eat lunch. And the more you think about those things, the more they start to take up space in your mind, which means that sometimes triggers can sneak right in under the radar.

In this article, we learn more about what triggers are, the different types of triggers, and how to react when we are triggered by stress.

What are Mental Health Triggers?

Triggers are mental health issues that can be caused by a variety of things: stressors at work or home; trauma; negative situations; or even just having too much on your plate. They can bring up emotions like anger or sadness that make it hard for you to focus on anything else—and this can really affect how well you do your job as an entrepreneur.

Now you may start to think, well if I can identify and then "get rid of" my triggers, then I'll be successful and never have any issues again.

But remember what we have talked about in previous articles, stress is a constant. It will always be there, we just have to learn how we want to respond to that stress. 

We are not trying to “fix you” because you are not broken. 

Instead, we are trying to identify areas that may ease your transition from a heightened state to a more neutral and calm one. A state that will allow you to be present, accepting, and compassionate of who you are as a human being. 

There is no perfection here, just the wonders of you.

So let's dive into understanding what triggers are a little more before reflecting on any that you see in your life.

Triggers are experiences, situations, or feelings that remind you of a past trauma. When you experience a trigger, it can cause your body to go into fight-or-flight mode, causing you to feel anxious or scared.

Look back at what we learned about the stress response cycle here to review. The trigger of a stressful event is the first step in the cycle. We want to be able to identify our common triggers so that we can then move through and complete this cycle with more ease.

It does not mean that we can get rid of the trigger or that stress will dissolve once we have found them, but this is a huge step in being able to create a stress management system that works for you. 

Note: this section on triggers may be difficult to work through on your own. Seek help from a licensed professional when you need it.

Four main types of triggers:

• Affective Triggers: These include any situation that makes you feel sad or anxious, like losing someone close to you or being betrayed by someone who was important to you.

• Cognitive Triggers: These are situations that make us question our own abilities and self-worth, like feeling judged by other people or getting bad news about a project at work.

• Behavioral Triggers: These are events that make us feel unsafe in our own bodies or in public spaces, like groping at an event or having someone yell at us on the street for no reason.

• Environmental Triggers: These are things in our environment that remind us of other situations that were unsafe, such as a certain smell or too much noise or a specific location.

How do we deal with triggers when they happen?

There are several ways to manage your reactions when a trigger happens:

• Identify what types of things trigger you. Do certain scents remind you of stress? Are there certain sounds that bring back memories? Do certain places or tasks make your anxiety flare up? Once you know what causes these reactions in your body and mind, it's easier to manage those situations and prepare yourself for when they come up.
• Recognize any physical signs to the trigger such as an upset stomach or a headache. Take note of these when they happen, before things progress.
• Journal about things that trigger you. Try writing down what happened in as much detail as possible to help process any thoughts and emotions.
• Bring it up with a counselor. I am always a proponent of talking with a counselor and setting up a system that works best for you with a licensed professional. This will not just help you identify coping mechanisms and triggers, but also to talk out the root cause of these things so they are less intrusive in your day-to-day life.
• For more ways to manage your reactions to triggers, check out the Teacher Life Balance Workbook inside the Teacher Life Balance Membership.

The Signal

Remember that having a trigger does not mean that you have done something wrong.

Triggers are just a way for your body to signal to you that it is feeling unsafe. As we talk about the stress response system a little more in later articles, you will start to see similarities to how your body responds to a trigger and its part in the cycle itself. 

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This process takes time. You will slowly start to identify triggers as they can sometimes be so ingrained in our psyche or our environment that we no longer notice them.

You may have to look back a few days to recognize when the symptoms of an activated trigger started to show.

If you need more support in dealing with these triggers, you may want to check out the Free Stress Relief Toolkit with resources added every month to help you create your own stress management system. Check it out here!