Anxiety Triggers And What To Do About Them

I’m truly flattered by the amount of support and comments that I received the last time I talked about mental health. So, I’ve decided to share a little more.

I mainly talked about anxiety since I think it’s something that gets overlooked by other mental conditions.

One other particular struggle I deal with in anxiety is having things that trigger me. These triggers can happen at any time, and when they do, they can cause me to think illogically about them.

For example, one weekend, when I realized that Lordi’s Sexorcism era had come to a end and this time I didn’t get to see them live like the last era. I started to have irrational worries. I started venting online and rambling about it to my brother’s girlfriend when she was staying over.

Those concerns I had were that Lordi didn’t care about me as a fan, the management didn’t care about fans located where I was, or they were being xenophobic. When I talked to my friends about it, some of them were supportive, while others told with me the reality that I do know already, but when my anxiety gets triggered, I don’t want to hear the reality.

The reality is for any band in Europe, the band members don’t get to choose where they tour. That decision lies in the hands of the band’s promoters and financiers and unfortunately, if they don’t have a lot money, those two groups of people often stick to tours within their continent because touring overseas, especially to North America is expensive over all.

That reality can make me easily feel devalued as a fan. When this trigger becomes active, I feel like I have to remind myself constantly that I am not being devalued and that the band recognizes me and other fans in my continent exist. I bet if the band members were in charge of booking tours, they would tour worldwide.

Another recent trigger I had was the fears I started to develop before I started my new job, let alone this was before I was even interviewed for the position. I was anxious about things that any unemployed person would be worried about at that time: not having enough money, starving, or becoming homeless despite the fact that I still live with my parents, they would reassure me that that would not happen, and plus there’s always EI out there and you should always save money just in case, if you lose your job.

Now that I have a job, that concern has kind of subsided, but it still remains in my mind somewhere should a worst case scenario occur.

Sometimes these triggers may also cause me to have crying spells that can be difficult to control unless I’m alone making it safe to let it out. But if I was out in public and have a trigger, it’s a lot harder to stop. Think of it like having a panic attack but without having difficulty breathing.

So, what do I do about these triggers? If I can, I talk to someone about it like friends or family, or one method that really helps is I write it down somewhere like in a diary. Writing things down has helped me for years because once I have done that, I can see it in front of me, properly address it, and let it go.

When I cannot always do that, I do some deep breathing, like the feather method that I got from the game Celeste.

There are plenty of ways to help with anxiety instead of begging your doctor to prescribe you a bottle of Xanax or getting a few joints of marijuana to light. People just seem to forget about the non-pharmacological methods to be honest here.

The first step to addressing the triggers is to identify them. You can always make a chart of the most common triggers you get that might cause you to think irrationally, panic, or become sad or angry. Once you’ve done that, then you can try something like vent your feelings by writing it down somewhere. At least, that’s what works for me.

What works for you?

👽Emily