Facing Life with Anxiety Triggers

Anxiety triggers are going to happen in life. As long as anxiety exists, there will be something to trigger it. It’s important to decide when to push ourselves to face our triggers and when to step back and avoid the trigger.

Avoiding triggers is not always a bad thing.

In fact, it is essential to our self-care to know what we can handle and what we cannot. However, it is important not to fall into the excuse that we can’t do something because it triggers our anxiety.

I must admit that I often succumb to anxiety triggers and have a tendency to cancel or avoid things. This is something that I personally need to work on, as I have made my tolerance level for triggers much too low.

I need to increase that tolerance — the only way to do this is to continue to be around my triggers.

Living with triggers requires tolerance of your anxiety levels.

It means sitting with the anxiety and knowing that you will survive. The more you face your triggers, the easier it will get to face what triggers your anxiety. It may never be fun or comfortable to go into triggering situations, but it does get easier.

It is also appropriate to have time devoted to self-care without stresses when you’re working on dealing with triggers. This stress-free time can help build up resiliency and strength so you can navigate the next difficult situation you face.

Another essential? Practice coping skills before you need to utilize them. They’ll become second nature and easier to use in a time of stress.

Anxiety triggers are unique in that they occur more frequently than most other triggers.

Anxiety-producing situations are endless. This is why it is so important to learn how to discern when to face triggers and when it is appropriate to avoid something. Make it a priority to discuss this differentiation with your therapist and your support system.

When facing an anxiety-producing experience, it’s eye-opening to go over the pros and cons of avoiding a situation with another person. This person can help you look past your anxiety and see what the reality of a situation is. They can encourage you to face it.

Sometimes, we are too easy on ourselves. Another person can help keep us accountable and make sure we keep challenges in our lives.

Avoiding triggers altogether makes life very limited.

It means avoiding people and places that you may genuinely love but still cause you anxiety. It may cause you to miss holidays or trips to amusement parks. You may not get to experience the most fun parts of life because these are parts of life that can also cause anxiety.

It’s worth it — fight past the anxiety and face the things that trigger you.

Kate

Kate has not followed the path she imagined she would when graduating from high school. Instead, her life has taken several different turns. Although she was planning to graduate with a degree in psychology, Kate returned to her hometown to actively work on recovery from anxiety, depression, an eating disorder and PTSD. She structures her days around working with dogs and has discovered that instead of a traditional career she is being led to train psychiatric service dogs. She is currently training her own service dog, Gus. He has changed her life in ways too numerous to mention. Kate also enjoys spending time with family, meeting friends for coffee and riding horses.