Unexpected Trigger...
 

Last night I couldn't find anything to watch on TV so I flipped to the music channels. I grew up on classic country music (Merle Haggard, Walon Jennings, George Jones etc!), and always enjoyed listening to the classic country channel.

Well, as soon as I started listening, I soon after started craving big time!!!!!!!! Kind of took me off guard and thank GOD I didn't have anything in the house to drink and no way of obtaining any!!!!

Never would have guessed that music could be a trigger! Although, when I was a kid, my dad drank heavily (he has been sober now for 40 years almost) and we always knew he was drinking if Hank Williams was blaring in the house. So maybe it isn't that shocking I guess.

Ugh....then I got in the car this morning and the radio starts cranking Johnny Paycheck! Oh give me a break....it was almost funny:-)

As time goes on, you will again be able to listen to "Classic Country", roflmao Yes I got sober many years ago, but at a time when many stations were playing what is now called "Classic Country" and it took me to almost a year before I could again listen to my most favorite music.

Even went to an 'all day, all night concert" at 2 years sober, where many of the 'greats' of that time were there, ie Hank Williams, Jr, Willie Nelson, Merl Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Loretta Lynn, it was wonderful, fun filled, and we stayed sober.

So please don't fret, as when sober for a while, the songs again changed their meanings and my feelings about them.

What happened though is very understanding, as I used to 'listen', 'sing along' and DRINK all the time to just that music.

So hang in there, don't drink, work on yourself, and you will come to love sobriety!

Love and hugs,

Oh yes....I was always drinking when I listened to it too. My poor husband got to hate it I think. On a Saturday night he would want to watch a movie and I would be like....nope, it's a music night! You could tell if I had a big drinking night if my Facebook page was full of YouTube videos of Patsy Cline and Willie Nelson on Sunday morning! As if any of my friends were interested:-)

Oh yes, music can definitely trigger me. I particularly couldn't listen to dance music for the first few months because it would lead me to fantasize about drinking. I can now run to it again and dance like a silly person in my living room :)

As you get further on into sobriety that music won't be a trigger for you. :)

Music still triggers me sometimes but there is one song I used to listen to while drinking and now, when I hear it, all it does is make me want to get/stay sober.
Maybe the songs that are triggers for you now can become inspiration in the future?

Oh yeah, music is a massive trigger for me. There is a drug or person or time and place attached to so many songs for me. I do it to myself though sometimes and like to sit in my misery. Stupid

Totally! The only music I ever have on in the house anymore is occasional toddler tunes for my daughter. I get triggered when something changes my mood, and almost any music seems to do that to me. Even some little musical bits in my daughters tv shows can get me. Music is big time danger for me.

Its funny you mention this. I had an experience with music as well. I have Itunes and Spotify, because music is a huge part of my life. I noticed that when a certain song would come on, that I originally got into during the darker years of my life, I became uncomfortable. They say your sense of smell and certain odors can trigger memories, but I have found music to be the same type of thing. I actually had to delete some songs off my playlists because they repeatedly brought back memories of horrid nights out or bad experiences involving alcohol. No matter how many times I listened, they remained bad memory triggers...........so I got rid of them. I have new music now, songs that remind me of better times. I dont care to hear some of those songs ever again, to be honest.

There stands the glass sung by conway twitty makes me want to drink. So does the king is gone by George Jones(RIP). I have to take a bresk from my favorite country music, so I have been blaring Bob Marley to keep a positive mindset.

No more Townes Van Zandt for a while either.

Oh yeah...a big one for me was "Misery and Gin" by Haggard:-) Yep...it's best to avoid that channel for a while yet.