Over the years, some of my triggers have definitely definitely gone away. Others are still here, and sometimes new ones surprise me.

For me, as I worked through the triggers, they diminished.

It used to be SUPER TRIGGERING for me to be in a movie theater. I have kids, and my kids want to go to the occasional movie, so I would go, but it would just be 2 hours of anxiety and panic, and it would take me a long time to recover.

When I realized in therapy why movie theaters were so scary for me, the trigger got smaller, almost right away. I went to a movie not too long after that, and while I was there, I practiced putting the scary thoughts on a train that would just roll on by and make room for the next thought. It wasn't the most fun I've ever had, but it wasn't the normal horrifying experience it usually was.

That was a couple of years ago, and I can go to the movies now with almost no problem AT ALL. We worked through the event that caused the trigger in the first place, and it's not really a trigger anymore.

There are some other things that will probably always be a bit of a trigger for me...certain words for example...but some of those are becoming more of an "ugh" moment that I can move through rather than something that sends me spiraling away.

Triggers are horrible, aren't they? (((((((CantExplain)))))))