Identifying Your Triggers

52 Weeks of Freedom - Week 3

This yearlong weekly journey is designed to help you break free from what I call the porn prison - a state of mental, emotional, and spiritual confinement caused by porn consumption. This prison traps individuals in cycles of shame, isolation, and disconnection, making it difficult to live a life of purpose and fulfillment.

Each Friday for the full year of 2025, I’ll dive into a key aspect of recovery, provide practical tools, and challenge you to take meaningful steps toward lasting freedom. Whether you’re just starting your journey or already working toward healing, this series offers encouragement, clarity, and structure to help you build and sustain a new, liberated identity.

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Identifying Your Triggers

What are Triggers?

Triggers are cues that can ignite cravings or habits, often without conscious thought. Think of them as programmed reactions that direct you toward your habit. Triggers can be classified into two main types: external and internal.

• External Triggers: These come from the environment around you. It could be a specific place, certain people, or situations that remind you of past behaviors.

• Internal Triggers: These are feelings or thoughts that arise within you. They might include specific emotions, like anxiety or boredom, or intrusive thoughts that dominate your mind.

Building the awareness to identify your triggers helps you anticipate and navigate challenging moments, reducing their power over you.

This proactive strategy has been an essential aspect of my recovery as it puts a name on the thoughts and feelings that could lead me down the destructive path. Once the trigger is named, I can then address it in a healthy manner and head it off become it becomes problematic.

Common Triggers

Everyone’s triggers are unique, but here are some typical examples:

External Triggers:

• Certain environments: Being in a place associated with past habits, like a room where you used to watch porn, can act as a powerful trigger.

  • Example: My porn addiction started in the basement of my parent’s house. The moments when I am in my high school bedroom are more triggering than other rooms in the house.

• Specific people: Encounters with certain individuals who remind you of your habit or engage in similar behaviors can prompt urges.

  • Example: When I was working through my divorce with my ex, I would be at a heightened state of temptation to revert to my old medication to numb the pain of the separation and the destruction that was caused. Those interactions were perfectly cordial with her but still the feelings of shame would start within me any time we’d have to talk or meet.

• Media exposure: Seeing suggestive content in movies, TV shows, or online can trigger cravings, even if it's incidental.

  • Example: As we all know, just about any adult TV show has nudity in it, with some shows leaning more into it than others. There are certain movies and shows that I know are just not worth re-watching for that reason.

• Social media: Scrolling through social media can expose you to triggering content, especially if the algorithm surfaces suggestive images or videos.

  • Example: There are certain apps I do not have for this reason. Some are just too overwhelmed by thirst traps or backdoor ways where I can find a quick dopamine hit. For the apps I do have, I have strict content filters to block adult content.

• Time of day: Certain times, such as late at night when you're alone, can become habitual triggers based on previous routines.

  • Example: Night-time on the weekends for me has typically been the most active time for relapses.

• Lack of Sleep: Being sleep-deprived can impair your judgment and lower your ability to resist temptation. Fatigue often weakens your resolve and makes it harder to make mindful decisions, leaving you more susceptible to falling into old patterns.

  • Example: This is a big trigger for me. When I’m sleep-deprived, my mental defenses are down, and I’m more likely to seek comfort in old habits. The exhaustion diminishes my ability to stay intentional and focused, making unhealthy behaviors feel more appealing.

Internal Triggers: