Too Much

Have you ever been reading a book or watching a show, when a scene comes up that makes your insides clench up like angry eyebrows and you just have to walk away for a bit? Congratulations, you've been triggered!

Now, that might seem like a really obvious thing to some people, but for the longest time, I just had no idea that I was or could be "triggered." The internet had assured me in many situations and on several different sites that being "triggered" was an outwardly unreasonable and often violently angry reaction to something the person found objectionable. Being "triggered" was when you rage-quit or frothed at the mouth or ranted (probably very loudly and at length) at people who had nothing to do with the situation that had triggered them. 

Being "triggered" was, therefore, a childish and outlandish response that no reasonable person would partake in. 

I was wrong. The internet was wrong (or at least it was exaggerating). 

Being triggered is a legitimate and valuable unconscious response to stress, usually involving mental connections forged by trauma or long-term discomfort or fear. It's a survival response, your brain identifying something it has pinged as dangerous in the past and encouraging you to avoid it. 

Note that I am NOT a medical professional of any caliber, and that if you find yourself triggered in such a way that it interferes with your life, you ought to seek out professional help. I highly recommend the website BetterHelp for those of you that don't have someone to talk to about this. It's easy to sign up and you can start talking to a therapist within 48 hours, with unlimited text messaging between sessions. It's what I used for my therapy needs when I was unwilling/unable to see someone in person. 

So next time you find yourself overwhelmed or upset by something, give yourself a little space to process that. It's okay to be triggered, and it doesn't make you weak. You've got this.