“Triggered” or “Happy Holidays”

So my wife and I were watching a movie created by the Russian movie industry…

Dubbed in English for the western market first thing is a warning of images of tobacco use.

Don’t be triggered, but what do foreign science fiction movies have to do with the holidays?

Absolutely nothing.

Horror movies, inseparable from Halloween, are like the siren call for those true Holidays we all hold near and dear. Halloween represents a very scary time for me personally.

No I do not really watch horror movies, but as someone suffering from blood sugar issues candy is not something of which I partake. I do well to stay away from carbs and sugar. Not too much of a choir at all…

But then comes Halloween.

Triggered?

I would say so. I cannot stop with the peanut butter cups, bite sized snickers (actually have a fairly low glycemic index) and Almond Joys. Sometimes you feel like a nut and then there are Mounds.

I justify my binging citing to myself the natural ingredients not generally related with sugar highs; peanuts, coconut etc.

I do not touch any of the completely artificial candies filled with various gums, food colorings and sugars. Hooray for me.

The reality is however, any other time of year if a bowl of candy should float across the room and come to rest before me I am completely impervious to its temptations. I ridicule with dire warnings of failed health and early death any who dare partake.

So what happens at Halloween? Or during the following Holiday season? I have a fairly normal Thanksgiving plate. Pies and cookies along with various deserts capture my attentions, destroying my defenses in short order all the way to the New Year.

All through the Holidays.

All these events are deeply associated with family and society. What is behind these triggers?

As this blog is associated with writing; what triggers your characters?

More importantly, why?

From another perspective you may say we are speaking of psychological issues. How many movies, shows and stories have been created centered on dysfunction over the Holidays.

Fortunately personal conflict or even mild levels of turmoil are not part of my family gatherings, we all appear well adjusted and balanced in general these days.

My only issue is with food. and since the Holiday foods I fall victim to are actually detrimental to my health, having blood sugar issues, can we conclude that things that trigger us are always detrimental.

I would answer with a resounding yes.

And that includes all the petty and mundane things our current social structure is training people to be triggered by. Different groups and classes in society are usually triggered, or not, by different things.

There is only one way to train someone to be triggered, and that is to traumatize them.

And it is easy to traumatize those weak in body, mind and spirit.

If an entire society top to bottom reacts the same, is triggered in the same manner, you will have some job delineating that mass trauma in your story.

The wonderful thing about triggers is not that they are fun fun fun fun fun! fun for everyone! But the destruction they lead to is self evident to anyone paying attention.

When Tigger is triggered things break.

Even the children’s story cannot escape the reality of triggers. It is good to learn to deal with them.

I am sure I trigger a certain group of people on a regular basis.

So as an author, triggers can convey much about the social structures you create as well as the deeper background and internal workings of a character.

Super Man’s kryptonite; an archetype found in stories as old as history. Think Achilles’ heel. Perhaps not exactly triggers but certainly revealed weaknesses, and triggers reveal our weaknesses.

The most important message I would like to convey here is that with some honest self observation and reflection we can better ourselves and society when we understand that triggers always lead to destruction.

Decide not to be triggered. Work to find the whys and wherefores.

There is a storyline.

Take control of your life. Better yourself and society.

Thank you for reading.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

Don’t be triggered.