Triggers??
 

I hear a lot of talk in the rooms about triggers. "I need to avoid my triggers" " I need to be aware of what my triggers are" etc.

IMO this contradicts the 1st step. This tells me that if I can control my outside circumstances and avoid my "triggers" Ill be okay. If I were powerless over alcohol and could not manage my own life, how is it possible that I can control my desire to drink by managing my surroundings? The lesson I learn in the 1st step is that, unless I tap into a new source of power greater than me, I will drink no matter what.

If I were to make a list of the things that used to "trigger" my drinking, it would include one thing. Being awake.
I drank when things were good, when things were bad, when I was anxious, happy, depressed, excited, bored, nervous etc. I drank when my job was going great and when it was going terrible. I drank when everyone around me was acting the way I wanted them to and when no one would cooperate with "my plans."

I know that certain life situations can increase the feelings of discontent, agitation, anger, depression etc which may indeed have fueled my drinking. But to say that my sobriety depends on all of the outside circumstances in my life going the way I need them to so I avoid "triggers" is crazy. One of the gifts I get in sobriety is I can be present to live life. Both through the good and the bad.

The first step tells me my problem. Powerlessness. The second tells me the solution. Higher Power to restore me to sanity.
If I am restored to sanity through the process of working the remaining steps, "triggers" are not an issue. IMO only a spirtually unhealthy, insane, alcoholic mind can be triggered to drink.

I was kind of thinking this over last weekend. My wife brought home a beautiful collie puppie. She has wanted one for years and now that our kids are growing up and out... well, you know, empty nest, all that... she took the leap.

She is so beautiful, there is nothing like a brand new fluffy puppy to bring out this alpha male's inner goddess, LOLOLOL... We were walking around the back yard, the puppy with a mix of fear, new place, people, all that, and enthusiasm.. So many feelings get all wrapped up, fears, questions... well she be happy here? can we give her what she needs? will she chew up the couch???...

There was a time I knew just how to deal with what I was feeling, and that was to just turn all that off... The good, bad, the fears and, well, the welling joy...

Triggers? I guess...

But now I can embrace it all and live it all for today... She is getting perkier every day, we romped around this morning... she's well, I am too.

God is pretty cool.

The 10th Step talks about maintaining spiritual condition and continuing to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear. Could those be "triggers". They crop up ? I need to do something about them. The instructions in the 10th Step OR - I'll drink eventually. That's how I read it.

by working the steps with my sponsor, who has a very good understanding of the program and lives it, i learned i dont have triggers that made me drink. i had( and still have) defects/shortcomings.

Right, I always saw "triggers" as outside circumstances. Character defects, shortcomings, etc. those are internal. They are part of being human, but when they go to extremes they are symptoms of spiritual sickness. Once Im spiritually sick life is a trigger.

You really nailed it there my friend. We suffer, or did suffer, from a spiritual malady, an internal condition if you like. Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps we try to maintain fit spiritual condition through self sacrifice and service to others, and we continue to practice these principles in all our affairs. When we fail to do that, the old malady has a habit of returning and we get so incomfortable that it doesn't take much to put that drink in our hands.
I drank because I'm an alcoholic, and for no other reason than I caught the genetic bullet. External factors may aggravate the problem but they didn't cause it.
If someone feels they have to hide from some aspect of life (a trigger) like a social occasion, because it might make them drink, the book tells us he still has an alcoholic mind, there is something the matter with his spiritual condition. The safest thing to do is work with another alcoholic.

If he has had the spiritual experience, he is free to go anywhere free men can go without danger. And when the bad thing happens in his life, he'll feel the pain or grief, but he will deal with it sanely and rationally. Alcohol won't come up at all, he will be safe and protected as in the step 10 promises.

I do however agree that avoiding triggers before your spiritual awakening, and using any other strategy you might learn in rehab to avoid picking up, is wise and may buy you the time to get through the steps. But, simply because of the strange mental blank spot that alcoholics of my type have, avoiding triggers as a means of obtaining long sobriety is doomed to fail.

Wow! Some great stuff here! You have given me alot to think about!
There was a time when I was a very "religious" person. Somewhere along the way I lost my "spirituality" and became dependent on "religion".

Now I want to find my "spirituality", then maybe I'll find my "religion".

Hope that makes sense.

Trigger is Roy Rogers horse. It's also a mind trick that we play on ourselves. We drink because we're alcoholics. No other reason.

I agree. Left unattended, 10th steps issues will eventually grow into triggers.

Like weeding a garden, we must remove the Dandelions before they block out the sunlight on the rest of our crop.

This does make sense. I know for me I have to be careful when it comes to feeling sorry for myself and getting on the pity pot. Not to mention being humble and realizing that it isn't all about me. My drinking affected my family. These are huge things for me.