What are your "triggers"?
You hear about "triggers" that remind you of events, situations, etc. that relay to your emotions. Perhaps the smell of an apple blossom reminds you of a childhood place, maybe raining weather reminds you of a car wreck that you were in, etc. (You get the idea!)
A friend of mine and I go to concerts in the summer. And every year, we end up having a portion of the same conversation.
The smell of alcohol is a trigger to me. Actually, it's a trigger in 2 phases. The smell as well as the surroundings will first remind me of when I was a teenager and would go out partying with my friends. But that only lasts a few seconds, then it triggers into the feelings that I have now about AH. The smell of alcohol can disgust me and make me feel ill at my stomache, if I let it, it can consume me with memories of past events where my AH was drunk and the smell was there.
Interesting enough, my friend's (who is divorced) trigger is the smell of weed. She said that even after all these years of being divorced, the smell can still make her angry! And it gives her a headache. Her ex was also an alcoholic and did some other drugs as well during the course of their relationship. (He's been clean and sober now for a few years!) But apparently the events that were the most painful for her must have revolved around the weed as that is her trigger.
There is also a certain type of weather that we can have that is a trigger for me as well. Catapults me back to a night that was a turning point in the marriage between AH and I. When the weather is a certain way, slightly rainy and with a certain degree of chill, the setting takes me back to 10 years ago and I can still feel the way I felt back then.
I know it is our choice if we allow this to affect us or not. We choose if we let it linger or if we choose to let it go and move on.
But do you have triggers as well?