Often, we may feel triggered by certain situations or words or people. This can come from deep-rooted past experiences and traumas associated with such things. However, the way we manage our nervous system and control our reactions helps us to calm down and relax. “Here is a super simple explanation of what this can look like. If regulating emotions is something you struggle with, working with a mental health professional can be life changing,” wrote Therapist Sadaf Siddiqi. The Therapist noted down five steps by which we can calm ourselves and feel better after we feel triggered.
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Take a break: It is important to stop whatever we are doing at that moment. Be it cooking or writing an email or reading a book, we need to stop doing anything and take a long pause. This can be difficult to imbibe in daily life, but we should not stop trying.
Take deep breaths: We should take three deep and slow breaths. This helps in the circulation of more oxygen in the brain and helps in managing impulsive choices or actions. It also helps the nervous system to know that we are not under threat. This further helps us to come back to the present and know that we are safe.
Check-in with yourself: Triggers happen because we associate them to a past experience that we are uncomfortable with. In such cases, it is important to delve in deep and try to recall the threat or the trauma we felt. It’s important to create more self-awareness to understand ourselves better and manage the triggers.
Soothe yourself: Instead of avoiding the triggers, we should stay by ourselves and try to soothe ourselves. Be it validation or affirmations, we should give it to ourselves. It will help us to know that we can manage the nervous system.
Be intentional: We should also have a plan on what we need to do the next time. Making conscious choices helps us to see the road ahead and know what is coming.
