I've gotten pretty good over the last few years at recognizing when I am triggered, acknowledging it to myself, and then letting it go so I can move on without taking my triggers out on other people too often (or myself). It is one of the most important skills I've taken out of therapy. I DO have a choice in how I react to things that trigger me; I'm not a helpless victim of my triggers.

A few years ago, my sister wrote something to me in an email that triggered me. I hung onto that trigger; I ruminated over that trigger. That trigger led to depression and suicidal thinking, and that landed me in the hospital for a week. I allowed that trigger to set off a chain reaction in me and run my life for literally several months.

Last week, my sister was here visiting. She said something that triggered me. I felt the anger, acknowledged that I was triggered, and was able to let it go and move on. I chose very consciously not to ruminate on it or allow it to fester into depression, and I'm okay.

I've learned that I can make a decision about how I react to being triggered. I don't have to let a trigger occupy my thinking and actions for days and weeks, even months, on end. I can simply acknowledge that whatever was said or happened bothers me. I can recognize that my reaction is about old news usually; very rarely is it really about today. And old news really can't hurt me today. I can give it some honest thought and release it so I can move on without going into self-destructive mode.

If I run across something on the boards that triggers me, generally I just stay away from that particular thread if it bothers me that much. Sometimes I speak up if I feel someone is really speaking out of ignorance and needs to hear the facts, but usually I just let it go. After all, this is just cyberspace.

I have family members who constantly send me those awful mass emails that disparage people and ideas using misinformation and outright lies as propoganda. It triggers me that people fall for that kind of drivel, but I've learned to just hit the delete button so I don't even have to read that kind of crap, thus avoiding those kinds of triggers before I even have to see them. If we know certain things always set us off, we kind of owe it to ourselves to just stay away from them. No need to get myself all bent out of shape over some things.