I never knew what it felt like to be triggered until last year. My upstairs neighbor is extremely noisy. It often sounds like WWE Friday Night Raw complete with full body slams in her apartment. I'm not ringside. I'm under the ring.

One sleepless night the noise started. Bang, bang, boom. And the memories came flooding back. I was no longer a man in my mid-50s. I was a 6 year old boy. The noise was my grandmother stomping down the hall. And I knew what was coming. It happened every morning.

You see, I wet the bed. And that wasn't allowed. So she'd come back and check. The bed was wet. She'd grab a handful of hair and an azz cheek and bounce me off the floor. That was a good morning. Other mornings she'd launch herself off the floor and land on top of me. It's a wonder she didn't break my back.

I went through years of that. Every summer.

So that's what the upstairs neighbor triggered. Those feelings. And I started balling like a baby and almost starting screaming "I'm sorry grandma, I won't do it again. Please don't hurt me anymore grandma, please.".

That is what a trigger can feel like.