Triggered But Growing

WARNING!

I resonate with the word “trigger”—and every single feeling orbiting around it.

Anxiety. Grief. Overwhelm. Flashbacks.

But out of all of them? One has always followed me like a shadow.

Reaction.

Whew… that one.

I never truly knew how to deal with it.

I didn’t understand how fast emotion could drive action.

How one word, one memory, one unexpected shift could send me spiraling into a version of me that healing hadn’t met yet.

I used to think my reaction was who I was.

If I snapped, cried, froze, or shut down, it must mean I was broken.

But I’ve learned through prayer, therapy, journaling, and deep soul work that reaction isn’t identity—it’s a reflection of where I am, not who I am.

Triggers come to teach, not to trap.

They come to test the parts of you that used to react with fire, and ask you,

“Do you want to choose peace this time?”

And some days, I still don’t get it right.

But I show up.

Softer. Wiser. Slower to speak.

More in tune with the divine pause between what hurt me and how I heal from it.