Now triggers is just another word for the
things or feelings that we associate with
drug use or drinking. So these things can
be internal things like moods or feelings
or thoughts. But they can also be external
things like other people or places, times
of day. Our exposure to these things, these
associations, can often set off cravings.
So one way of doing this is maybe just to
sit down, it might be useful to do this with
a friend or somebody who knows you well, with
a piece of paper and a pen and literally list
your triggers. Once you've compiled your list
the next thing that you might want to try
and do is go through that list and kind of
sift out the ones that you're going to be
easily be able to avoid exposing yourself
to so there might be particular people in
your life that you can do without seeing for
a while without kind of you know disrupting
your life too badly. There might be places
kind of in your neighbourhood that you can
avoid going to or simply work out a different
route. There might be lots and lots of things
on that list though that you just can't easily
avoid. In which case maybe start thinking
about which ones out of that list are predictable.
If they're predictable. If you know you're
going to be exposed to them it gives you a
bit of a heads up. So you might come at it
from a completely different angle. You might
need a bit of support. With a bit of imagination,
you can usually find different ways of handling
those predictable things. Bear in mind with
triggers, this isn't going to be for the rest
of your life necessarily. What we're trying
to do, with this little exercise, is just
buy yourself a little bit of time. And really
just make yourself have an easier life.
