Triggers/Tools

[UrbanFool]

Honestly, this isn’t a “Do my Homework for me� thread, but I’ve been freaked out half the day and decided to light a candle in one of my favorite colors, sit down, and work on my homework for group. So basically I’ve now sat here for hours working on Triggers and Tools. For me, hardest is triggers because basically, I just need to be upright and I’m ready for a drink. So, specific triggers are hard to pull up. I don’t NEED a reason to drink --I’m conscious. So here’s what I’ve got, and was hoping people had other TOOLS ideas for how you deal with it when you’re ready to walk two miles to the store for a bottle of gin. I’d love to hear people’s suggestions. Hope this isn’t on another thread, but I didn’t see it. ~Kelly

TRIGGERS

Not sleeping

Stress/anxiety about work, home, family and other decisions I’ve made.

Boredom

Sitting on the phone mindlessly (probably out of boredom)

Sitting at the computer without a purpose in mind

Not attending meetings

Husband being pissed off and moody

Frustration with myself and my situation

Anger with myself and others

TOOLS

Don’t drink no matter what.

Call your sponsor.

Go to a meeting.

Pray.

Read.

Help someone.

Take a deep breath.

Say the Serenity Prayer.

Say the Third Step Prayer.

Say the Seventh Step Prayer.

Read the Twelve Promises again.

Review step Eleven.

Light a candle in a favorite color, meditate, or just enjoy it.

Meditate.

Get your ass out of bed, get dressed down to your shoes, put on your face, do your hair, and resemble a human being.

Call someone.

Consider the consequences of your actions - play the tape to the end.

Exercise.

Connect with nature.

Read a meditation book:

�Just for Today�

�Cherokee Book of Days�

�Meditations for Women who do too Much�

�Daily Reflections�

Write a gratitude list.

Revisit the twelve-steps.

Take a hot bath with candles, oils, and the whole 9-yards. Pamper yourself.

Get out a cookbook and make a favorite meal.

Clean the house.

Learn something new... via book or Internet or something.

Do your hobby. If you don’t have one, get one.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

Having problems with formatting... wish I knew exactly how this worked.

K.

[Anna]

Hi Kelly,

Sorry you're having a bad day, but this post is a great idea

TRIGGERS FOR ME

- Allowing myself to wallow in the past

- Letting my emotions take me to a sad, dark place

- Fear - big fears, small fears - it doesn't matter


TOOLS

- My Kitten

- Music

- Marianne Williamson's book "A Return to Love"

- Caroline Knapp's book "Drinking: A Love Story"

- Changing perspective with my thoughts and feelings and looking at things differently

[Gobi]

Triggers:
HALT (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired)

Tools:
It's not the fourth drink that gets me: it's the first drink. Just stay away from that first drink.

Also, when I feel an urge (at WFS anyway we call it the IMP(ulse) I think about how cool it feels to wake up without a hangover.

[UrbanFool]

I'd thought of the HALT after Anna's post and have added these to mine:

1. Take prescribed medications if needed. (I tend to forget.)
2. Be cognizant of the H.A.L.T. It’s easy to forget.
3. (I added onto this one) Write a gratitude list --keep writing the list for as long as you need to.
4. Revisit the 4th step. You can never do too much housekeeping.
5. Write every day, even if it’s only for ten minutes.
6. Sit and write “thank-you� or “thinking-of-you� notes to people you love, even if you just called them last week. Every loves getting a note.

[Phinneas]

Great thread, Kelly.

#6 in your last post reminds me about service work or simply helping others. That gets me out of self the quickest. The world needs more acts of kindness. I have a goal to do at least one act of kindness per day.

What I have found is that the tools of AA are there for a reason. They must be used. Like calling people (not just my sponsor, but women in recovery), for example. By doing it on a regular basis, when I am really in trouble, that tool is there for me. If I don't pick up the phone on a good day, I certainly won't pick it up on a bad one.

Keep up the good work.

Hugs,

phinny

[Rowan]

What a great thread!

Triggers:
1. Spending time with family at the cottage
2. Doing too much
3. Not taking care of myself
4. Missing meetings
5. Isolating
6. Not calling my sponsor
7. Life in general sometimes

Tools:
1. Prayer
2. Candles and Incense
3. Yoga
4. Take my dog for a walk in the woods
5. Read a good book in bed
6. Meetings (hmm shoulda thought of this one sooner lol)
7. Reach out
8. Journal
9. Show gratitude
10. Be self-aware

Good to be here and sober!
Rowan

[UrbanFool]

1. Eat healthily and at regular intervals.
2. Write down all the stupid things you did when you were tanked, the guilt, the shame.
3. Re-commit to sobriety every morning.
4. Stay busy --volunteer somewhere if necessary.
5. Do breathing exercises.
6. Write a list of goals. Things you want to learn, things you want to do.
7. Write daily affirmations.
8. Re-affirm that you aren’t going to drink “just for that day.�
9. Reconnect and stay connected with good friends.

One thing I did, and I’m not going to put it on my homework for group, but someone posted that article about the “moderated drinking� woman proponent/founder who killed two people while drunk driving. I have it folded up in my wallet, and just having it there is pretty powerful for me.

Why can’t we edit our posts after a certain amount of time? I’d have otherwise just replaced the first list. I’m up to 40 “Tools.�