Discussion Your warning signs

[Cloud Busting]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. There is something called a wrap plan, which is a personal wellness plan. I'm considering making one. A part of filling one out is acknowledging triggers for or signs of relapse.

My biggest trigger is stress. Any time I have a bunch of stress stacked at once, like work, finances, legal trouble, whatever, it drains me to the point of depression and/or substance use. Mitigating these stressors is a big key. The less stress I have, the easier it is for me to stay afloat and to not get exhausted. If I'm exhausted, I can't function, and not being able to function makes it hard to make decisions that prevent stressors like poor work performance, being in debt, having a broken down car I can't afford to fix, struggling to pay rent, breaking the law, doing drugs, whatever have you. Multiple stressors at once that I'm struggling to tackle has become a warning sign in and of itself.

Other warning signs for me:

• Extreme exhaustion, fatigue, lack of motivation
• Anger/irritability/impatience/low threshold to tolerate stuff just constantly annoyed and snapping at everything and everyone (myself included)
• Isolation, ignoring and avoiding people and their texts and calls
• An increase in anxiety or having panic attacks
• Indecisive and unable to concentrate or know where to start, overwhelmed
• Excessive ruminations, guilt, or shame, replaying the past over and over, intrusive thoughts
• Any sort of change in appetite or sleep. If I can't will myself to eat anything unless it's premade or provided to me that's trouble brewing.
• Abandoning any established routine or anything that's good for me, or losing interest in healthy pastimes
• Talking to people I shouldn't be talking to, or reminiscing and romanticizing low points, like being negative or using or being "edgy" cuz actually being wholesome and healthy or into spirituality is lame like am I too scared to be risky and Machiavellian like I know I can be?

So what are your warning signs that you're about to relapse into unhealthy thought or behavior or mental illness?

 

[Praestat_Mori]

Idk if it's beneficial for me to join that WRAP-Plan as the actual trigger still cannot be solved by it - it'd just be a coping mechanism but not a solution the actual problem that triggers me.

What triggers is the reality that I failed in life. The follows are mainly financial issues - that's what triggers me to become depressed and suicidal and the fact that wage-slavery isn't the solution to my personal problem bc as a wage-slave I'm not the beneficiary rather ultimately it's the CEO who profits of me not paying me a reasonable income.

There's no coping mechanism for the harsh reality.

Aside from that, like you, some of the triggers are very similar to yours here. Especially any kind of stress and there are so many individual reasons that can case us stress.

 

[onthefence]

I have found that I know I'm really in trouble when I start forgetting/ showing up really late to scheduled obligations. I think it's because I'm so stressed my brain just decides to let some things go.