obligatory “I have triggers I have PTSD” disclaimer before you cry to me that I’m ableist but we need to ban discord servers until you learn to get your triggers under control like the sheer amount of times I’ve entered servers that have had 100+ things like “beanie babies” “some anime that someones ex liked” on the “SEVERE TRIGGER IF U DONT SPOILER THIS YOULL BE BANNED AND HANGED” it’s exhausting honestly like you cannot expect 50+ strangers to conform to you esp when it’s shit like “scars” or “visible veins” like I often get urges to self harm that are brought on by visible scars do you think I would EVER approach a real human being with visible scars and say “please cover yourself you’re making ME upset” like absolutely not. remove yourself, google “alternatives for self harm” and then “how to deal with triggers” instead of forcing your problems onto other people. you will live the most miserable fearful life if you live in such a constant state of fear without ever attempting to get a handle on it and expecting everyone to conform to you
alright well this get notes so I should add that this isn’t shaming people for having obscure triggers, I have multiple incredibly obscure and “stupid” triggers and I understand how difficult it is to have something so ordinary be such an ordeal for you. This is less about the NATURE of your trigger and more about how you go about handling it. I was incredibly privileged to be able to dedicate many months of my life to tackling my trauma with intensive therapy, so I want to share some things I do online and offline that have helped me mitigate my reactions to triggering events, and preventing these triggers from sending me into a state of psychosis or panic and not impeding my daily life. Not everything here is a cure, they won’t work for everyone, but when I’m in public and feel incredibly unsafe, anxious, or paranoid, these things help. This is not in place of therapy, and I highly encourage you to do everything you can to find therapy resources if you truly feel like you cannot exist anywhere without multiple things feeling like a threat to you.
1.) know what calms you down. earbuds or headphones to cancel out noise (busy streets, children yelling, etc) and a specialized playlist of calming music or sounds that you can quickly access is key to staving off anxiety attacks for me, as well as touching soft objects. No one will question a person walking around with earbuds or headphones, same with keeping a soft plushie keychain or stress ball in my bag for me to touch. excusing yourself to the restroom or any type of quiet place to sit down and compose yourself is normal. don’t feel bad about cutting someone off and saying “hey, I gotta pee” then taking a couple minutes to sit outside. seriously.
2.) breathing. I’m not joking. I thought it was bullshit and I hate meditation, but 4-4-4 breathing (breathe in 4 seconds, hold for four, release for four) is no joke. having your brain focus on relaxation will ground you back into reality. focus on your sensory environment, what you can touch taste hear and smell. PTSD often makes you feel like you’re unattached from reality, so force yourself back into it.
3.) GET A HOBBY THAT ISNT MEDIA CONSUMPTION. Do something with your HANDS. Draw, bake, paint, sculpt, take a jog, pet an animal, do something that produces a positive reaction with your HANDS. I’ve felt like shit, literally convinced that I was a fictional character from silent hill and nothing was real, and forced myself to bake a pound cake from scratch and it’s not an immediate cure all but I found myself feeling better and easier to call for help or speak to someone and more tethered down to earth than I did if I would’ve just continued to scroll on tumblr or any other social media. please god find something that you enjoy that involves going outside. it does wonders. sometimes I just drink a cup of tea outside in the grass and sit in silence for 20 minutes and i feel significantly better.
4.) just leave. get off of the internet. stop distracting yourself and building your social circles on strangers online. I know how lonely you are. I know how it feels. your phone or laptop is only escapism, it is temporary. you cannot base your happiness on a screen. you cannot expect things from strangers. people cannot read your mind, people cannot bend themselves to fit what you want all of the time. you cannot just avoid everything that hurts you. go to psychologytoday.com, search for a therapist, put in filters like sliding scale payment or insurance or what type of therapy (trauma, ADHD, OCD, CBT, DBT) and DO SOMETHING. Please. God. The internet is fantastic, I’ve googled “how to recover from ptsd” “how to stop triggers” and have found some actual good resources used by EMDR therapy and the like. You have to be the driver of change in your life.
