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New Beginnings :
Red Flags vs. Triggers - Trusting your Gut!

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question

 ItsNotUitsMe (original poster member #21966) posted at 6:02 PM on Wednesday, July 24th, 2013

I have admittedly not thought this all the way through, but putting it out there anyway.

When your gut is telling you something and you are not quite sure why, how do you know if it is based on a "red flag" or a "trigger"?

My loose definition being "red flag" = based on facts and a "trigger" = based on a singular experience with someone else(even perhaps irrational, but not always)

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She11ybeanz ( member #27457) posted at 6:11 PM on Wednesday, July 24th, 2013

I think depending on what it is...sometimes it can be both! When my XWH was hanging out with MOW too much.....my gut told me something was off about their "friendship" and I knew it just didn't feel right. My gut told me so. I think if it happened with a new SO, my gut would kick in again....but it would also be a trigger.

I think you hit the nail on the head.... your gut is your 6th sense...and it just let's you know when something doesn't feel right.... a stranger in a dark alley... etc... and a trigger reaction is based on your history and past experiences....

"Sometimes your knight in shining armor ...is just a douchebag in tin foil!!"

ME - BW - 35
HIM - XWH - 39
D day: November 15th, 2009
Married: 5 Years, together 8
Divorced: December 13th, 2010
New Beginning: Piper/8-3-12

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 ItsNotUitsMe (original poster member #21966) posted at 9:56 PM on Wednesday, July 24th, 2013

I'm so confused! So hard for me to decipher the two, or at least trust my judgment enough to figure out if I am overreacting. As in, am I jumping to conclusions based on a trigger that has nothing to do with current situation or person?

For example, if XWH cheated while saying he was participating in a sport, and now your SO wants to participate in the same sport, I'm sure your gut would tell you something. Like, "the last time this happened it didn't end good" but really isn't it an irrational fear, since people participating in a particular sport doesn't really have anything to do with cheating. BUT - then your gut is saying "Something is wrong here!"

(Just a example, has nothing to do with my situation.)

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Crescita ( member #32616) posted at 11:18 PM on Wednesday, July 24th, 2013

Sometimes you will trigger on a red flag so the two can’t be cleanly separated, but if the trigger is harmless you can learn to quiet it by finding its origin and thinking it through.

If thinking it through makes your gut scream at you, I’d drop the trigger label and just call it a red flag. Address the issue in the here and now, know your boundaries, don’t let your past even become a talking point.

“Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue.” ― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

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heartbroken_kk ( member #22722) posted at 4:28 AM on Thursday, July 25th, 2013

Crescita nailed it.

FBW then 46, XWHNPDPAFTG the destroyer of my entire life. D-Day 1 '99, D-Day 2,3,4,5,6... '09-'11, D '15. I fell apart. I put myself back together. Forgiveness isn't required. I'm happy and healthy now, and MY new life is good.

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