Triggers as Healing Indicators, Not Warning Signs for Others
Knowing your triggers is for you, not for them.
I think we might have taken trigger warnings too far. They were always about showing sensitivity and alerting people to the nature of sensitive material so that they could choose whether or not they wanted to be exposed to that. Makes sense, right?
But they kept evolving.
Trigger warnings have joined mental health labels as ways to escape ownership of our problems. Instead of taking responsibility for our healing and growth, we’ve started asking people to walk on eggshells around us. We get triggered, and we actually think it’s someone else’s fault.
If you’re starting to get offended, please breathe through it because you might be the very person who needs to read this. Some days, I’m that person. That’s how a lot of my work starts. I say the thing I need to tell myself. I write my own reminder.
Triggers are actually healing indicators, not warning signs to others. Just as our cars have alerts to let…
