KellyToronto

These beer commercials on T.V. are too much, have to keep changing the channel, especially on these hot days.

What are other folks' triggers, and how do you deal with them?

I just made some iced tea, it helps a lot.

Kelly

suki44883

Yeah, that's one reason they say quitting alcohol is the hardest. It's legal and advertised and pretty much on display anywhere we go. I drank A LOT of iced tea when I found sobriety. I still do and I just had my 3 year sober anniversary.

Cravings only last for a few minutes. I've heard they last between 5 and 7 minutes, so if you can just find something to get your mind off it, the craving will pass. The more you do that, over time, the craving will get less and less. Also, there are some things that just are not conducive to drinking, like eating ice cream. May sound silly, but a nice bowl of your favorite ice cream will satisfy that sugar craving (alcohol is full of sugar) and the craving will pass by the time you've finished the bowl. Try it sometime.

Dee74

I never watch commercials anyway Kelly, but when I do the beer ones don't bother me more than any other ones.

They're selling a product I no longer have any interest in.

It takes time but so long as you keep doing the right thing and applying all you've learnt in rehab and since, you'll soon be not registering them too

D

defyinggravity

Ohhh, I'm so glad I read this just now...I just got MAJORLY triggered by watching someone cut up lines and snort her pills on tv. Now I can't stop thinking about coke (hence my coming to SR). Yikes.

Programmatic

I've decided for myself that the word "trigger" has too much derogatory charge to be used for this purpose. I now refer to these events as "reminders". In this way I can utilize the event as a reminder that I have a program to work and to not get lazy.

Hell, mowing my lawn is a reminder. Used to be my favorite beers.
Sleeping in late is a reminder. No more wake and bake on a lazy Saturday morning.
A long drive across the state can be a hell of a reminder.

For me, reminders are much more abstract than they seem to be for the average person. The typical visual reminders serve to repulse me while the more abstract reminders engender a more fond reminiscence.

susanlauren

Relapse trigger is no longer a part of my vocabulary. Creating a plan to combat "relapse triggers" assumes that I have choice over my drinking and that I can keep myself sober if I just come up with the right plan. Neither of these things are true.

I can't keep myself sober. I had to have a spiritual awakening as a result of working the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. That's what keeps me sober. The obsession over alcohol and drinking has been removed entirely. I don't want to drink anymore.

The same can happen for you if you are willing to take certain steps.
Susan

instant

The ads encourage us to drink, and push our buttons. Once we know where our buttons are and what will trigger them they have less power over us. The external ones are the easiest to learn (visual images, smells, sounds, situations, people, places etc).

The advertisers are good at selling a dream of living in an idealised world. Usually in this world I am encouraged to envisage I am intelligent, powerful, sexy, smart, etc etc and other people find me fun, intriguing, clever, savy and the good times roll on forever. Funnily enough my life is not like that ..........LOL.

What I am less adept at is recognising internal cues or triggers. I am in the process of learning this now in real time. At the moment I am noticing that any minor inconvenience leads to a negative inner state. These are times I get disconnected and have to respond not to my choosing eg phone ringing at not a good time, taking a coat when I go for a walk not needing and having to carry it etc etc ( I know these sounds petty ......but that's the way it is). All these minor things I can build up and use as excuse to drink by needing a break (from all the ******** I have to deal with etc etc). I guess these might not be triggers they may just be me.

Any way triggers don't move our arms and legs- hang in there.

EmeraldRose

I don't seem to have any triggers right now. I work in a store that sells booze/beer and I deal with it going over the counter all day. In fact, more than others because some of the cashiers aren't old enough to legally sell it so they are sent to me. I almost had an arguement with a guy (teasing, of course) that you can have just as much fun not drinking. He said booze makes it 'funner'. I said makes WHAT funner? He said everything. I said REALLLLLY? I said that I can have more fun not drinking because I only have to have half the fun -because I can remember it.
It doesn't bother me because I'm not interested in drinking. I sold a guy leeches for fishing and I wasn't interested in them either. LOL

I think drinking on TV is over-rated. They should have some guy blackout on a commercial, vomiting on his shoes. That would sell it!!

spikeman

My trigger is Saturday! Whenever it's Saturday I get such strong cravings that I just fall to pieces and give in. It's not something that lasts for a few minutes. The craving will go on for hours. I failed again this Saturday

Programmatic

For me, the trick was to break the pattern. Saturday used to be a sleep-in day followed by a chore list that could run into Sunday. The evenings were reserved for partying.

Now, I get up earlier than I do during the week. I have an activity planned already, maybe a trail with a friend, maybe a yard sale or auction to go watch... something that keeps me pegged to an early time. This confluences with getting me down earlier on Friday nights too. Sunday becomes the primary chore day. Can't do those chores hungover and can't go to work the next day hungover either. Checkmate.

spikeman

Hi Programmatic

I know exactly what you are saying and it's a good idea. Unfortunatly it doesn't work for me. I'll either drink myself stupid and do the chores or go to work the next day with a terrible hangover (or more likely still drunk), or I'll say "work and chores be dammed" and I'll just go and get pi**ed anyway.

This is why I'm asking for help from my friends and family to get them to keep me occupied and stop me picking up before I start and hopefully after a time that will give me the strength and self esteem to be able to say "no" myself.

SSIL75

I did a ton of self-talk to tackle that kind of thing. If I felt the urge to drink at all I'd 'play the tape through'. It really helps. It's rare for me now to get caught on something like that.

LexieCat

Now, THAT is great--you just captured the way I feel about booze these days. Pretty much the same as I do about leeches. (Whoda thunk--I haven't longed for a leech in a REALLY long time...)

Programmatic

Admittedly, the idea to interrupt my weekend pattern was instituted after I had already put down the chemicals for a few weeks but the cravings still lingered.

keithj

I'm a big proponent of doing anything to avoid picking up that first drink. Any distraction that could get me through an intense craving was a good thing.

At the end of the all this trigger management, though, I had to face the fact that I failed over and over at arranging my life so that I would not be tempted. It just didn't work for me. I simply could not arrange my life successfully or distract my self effectively enough to remain sober for any real length of time.

For me, it wasn't always a trigger that preceded drinking. Sometimes, it was the flatness of life. Sometimes, it was nothing identifiable at all. Somehow, for whatever reason, a drink made sense, and I couldn't connect the dots to see clearly what I was about to do. A peculiar form of insanity where drinking was concerned.

I lived for many years with the delusion that I could control not picking up a drink. For a while, it was true. But I could never turn that into lasting sobriety. It's funny, now that I make no attempt to control not picking up a drink, it's been effortless.

Programmatic

Dang, keithj, thanks for the reality check on powerlessness.

artsoul

I had to hold on to the idea that each urge I got through would take some power away from my addiction. I didn't have the strength at first, so I had to put my faith in what others said and trust that it really would get better.

Over time my confidence and sanity started to return. I found ways to enjoy my life again and ways to deal with the cravings. When I had a thought about how nice it would be to drink, I remembered the hangovers, heart palpitations, sweats, etc..... I imagined it getting worse, ending up in a hospital, losing relationships, etc..... I looked up what alcohol does to the brain/body. I started imagining a can of beer or glass of wine like I would a container of poison. I went to a forum for those with end-stage liver disease.
I started practicing gratitude and thinking about what I could give to others instead of worrying about my own happiness. I reminded myself that moods come and go. I kept my mind and hands busy. I reminded myself to take it one day at a time.

I think there's a million ways to deal with triggers - it's a matter of finding what works for you. Unless we want to die an alcoholic death, we're going to have to get through early sobriety, beer commercials and all..... The good news is that there will come a time when you'll realize you just watched one of those commercials and it didn't affect you at all. Keep that hope alive!!!

Boleo

I drank when there were triggers and I drank when there were no triggers. I got good at inventing triggers because I thought some outside force was causing me to drink.

It turned out my drinking was no way related to outside forces. I drank simply because the ISM part of alcoholISM started where the bottle ended.

Now that I have a spiritual solution to the ISM part of alcoholISM, I don't try to manage my sobriety in any way, shape or form.

Missy7

I'm an absolute escape artist. I have learned never to drink at home. I've been successful at that since April. But walking into the cave of our local bar and sitting with my husband having a drink is a way to shut out the world that I still long for.

I am tempted to go there with him and drink coke. I really like the dark, dank, hidden atmosphere and the cast of weird characters.

erikm02

My biggest trigger is being around other people socializing. Its like pulling teeth while sober boring!

Weekends are 2nd since I get cabin fever if I'm in my house for too long...

No other triggers than that thankfully