To maintain a successful recovery, sober people must avoid potential triggers. Triggers are stimuli that make people in recovery crave their drug of choice. Anyone can have them, even people who’ve avoided relapses for months or years. 

Triggers come out of nowhere, caused by factors as different as abusive relationships and TV commercials. Everyone’s different and must have the self-awareness to identify their triggers and overcome them. 

To do so, learn about them and yourself. Education and introspection are powerful components that form the building blocks of a plan to act.  

That plan isn’t static or a to-do list. Start small, designing each step at a time and doing a little bit every day. Work toward completing the first stage (education)…and after building something small, start small on the next while developing the first. 

Learn about triggers, determine which appear most often in day-to-day life, and which coping mechanisms counter them in unhealthy ways. Use that information to anticipate triggers and plan to counter them. With time, practice, and a little daily work, turnaround is more than possible. 

1. Education: What are Addiction Triggers and What Causes Them? 

Learning about triggers is necessary to defend against them, and many online resources make time-consuming formal education unnecessary. Learn a little bit every day—five minutes of research adds up fast. If unsure where to start, use the content below as an introduction. Transition to advanced material later. 

Internal Triggers 

Internal triggers come from emotions and reactions that happen inside the mind: 

• Guilt and shame from past decisions 
• Mental health struggles like depression and anxiety 
• Stress 

A diary is a valuable tool to face these internal triggers. Write down what caused those feelings each day, what they were, and what, if anything, solved the issue. Share the recording of emotions in the moment with a doctor, therapist, or loved one. 

Medical professionals use that information to design a better set of coping mechanisms. The daily diary then becomes an experiment log, recording effectiveness and failures as they come. 

External Triggers 

External triggers are places, people, situations, and senses that make additional patients crave drugs. It sounds easy to avoid external triggers—stay away from them, and they aren’t an issue—but cutting out beloved people and places requires making the hard choices. 

Instead, work toward making small changes, one day at a time. Jot down notes to prepare for a difficult conversation. Google alternatives to hobbies and places that trigger cravings and bad feelings a little bit every day. Lifestyle changes take time, and small progress makes it possible. 

2. Reflection: Watch Out for the Most Common Addiction Triggers 

Record where and when a trigger happened, who was around, and what happened at the time. This written record identifies patterns that medical professionals refer to when recommending changes. 

Familiar Places and People 

Settings associated with drug use, like the homes of friends who used drugs or familiar businesses that sold them, trigger cravings. Some people have cravings just being around the people they used to use with. Cutting these people out makes building a support network difficult; consider if the stress of ending relationships (another trigger) is worthwhile. 

Sensory Reminders 

These triggers occur when something the brain sees makes it want the drug it associates with the stimulus. Things as simple as the sight of someone smoking, the smell of liquor at a restaurant, or a TV commercial all activate triggers.   

Stress and Other Difficult Emotions 

Stress is an unavoidable part of life. Some stressors, like unmanageable jobs or abusive relationships, need expert intervention. For smaller stressors, try wellness methods like meditation for a few minutes every day. 

Good Times 

We should enjoy happy moments with loved ones to the fullest. Unfortunately, parties and social events usually include food, alcohol, and other potentially dangerous indulgences. Some social circles even bring drugs and addictive substances to parties. 

All this makes good times a trigger for memories and sensations. But don’t change daily life to canceling plans and spending time alone. Instead, rely on these loved ones to help watch for temptation. Consider asking for sober events or help organize them and minimize triggers while doing so.  

3. Introspection: Identify Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms

When triggered, it’s all too easy to lash out, self-harm, or collapse into other destructive behaviors. This feedback loop may push patients to relapse or binges, causing further shame and isolation. 

Note when these feelings bubble to the surface and accept them as part of recovery. Practice acknowledging mistakes without guilt or shame by thinking about mistakes from the last few days for a few minutes daily.

4. Preparation: Use This Information to Make a Plan 

Everyone’s recovery journey is different, and their response to triggers must be, too. Use the record of unhealthy coping mechanisms and associated triggers to brainstorm ways to work around them. Spend no more than a few minutes every day. Decide what activities and habits counter those unhealthy responses and triggered emotions, and try them out: 

• Choosing a contact 
• Deciding somewhere else to go 
• Leaving for another activity 

Ensure the people contacted to help know about the problem and will help—never surprise them. Experiment and review to determine whether the alternate activity fixed the issue. Then, prepare to adapt. Find alternatives if people or places are unavailable or a coping mechanism doesn’t work. When that happens, step back and try something new or proactively try to fix the problem.

5. Experiment: Try New Coping Skills 

Healthy diets, exercise, regular sleep, and other forms of proactive self-care mitigate triggers in advance. Alternatively, use hobbies, meditation, and other enjoyable activities as distractions to prevent relapse. Try something new every day to find what feels best. 

Self-awareness is a difficult skill to develop alone. Members of a support network may share helpful feedback, but they aren’t qualified to give objective and expert advice. 

6. Consider Therapy and Recovery Programs, Never Alone Recovery Can Help

Overhauling a lifestyle takes work. The trial and error of finding excuses to leave potentially harmful social situations is awkward. Being unbiased when experimenting with coping mechanisms and lifestyle changes is almost impossible. Therapy, 12-step programs, and other resources give patients feedback and support when making these difficult changes to everyday life.

Not everyone can access or afford these helpful resources. Those people should try Never Alone Recovery’s online support group. Based in Indiana and available nationwide, this rehab program employs a team of expert addiction recovery consultants. They guide people struggling with their triggers to new and healthier coping mechanisms. It also supports many other programs; call now to learn more.