Triggers – Why You Drink Alcohol

Photo By James C

There have been occasional times in the past when I tried to stop drinking but failed. I now realize that every time I failed to stay sober, it was due to experiencing a thought or feeling that I have identified as a trigger.

Triggers:

• Anger
• Upset
• Panic Attacks
• Social Anxiety Attacks
• Escapism
• Boredom
• Job Loss
• Death of someone close
• Natural Disasters
• Jealousy
• Embarrassment
• General change in circumstances
• Need for ‘perceived’ fun.
• Smoking

The reason behind wanting to drink was that I used alcohol to deal with these triggers because it would quickly numb what I was feeling and I could escape from my thoughts and feelings.

I don’t believe that just identifying triggers is enough. A plan of action is also necessary, finding coping mechanisms to help release the negative energy is a must.

Some actions that help ease the desire to drink 

• Physical movement such as walking, running or general exercise
• Journal writing
• Using a gratitude list – I will give more details about this and the life list in a future post
• Creating a life list

To summarize, here are the steps I have taken to ensure that I am totally aware of anything that may cause me to take the first drink:

1. Identified the triggers and wrote them down.
2. Made a list of possible coping techniques that I could use to counteract the triggers
3. Practiced being aware of how I was feeling then used steps 1 & 2 to help alleviate any negativity.

So far so good!

What are you tips for staying sober? Please feel free to share what works for you. 

Thank you for visiting “Recovery Princess; Quit Drinking and Enjoy Sobriety”

Tags: Alcohol, Get Sober, Sobriety, Triggers

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 5th, 2008 at 7:38 am and is filed under Get Sober. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.