You Know Your Triggers - So Why Do They Still Control You?
You’re smart, capable, and deeply reflective. You know your triggers. You recognize your patterns. You can analyze your emotions and explain your struggles in detail.
And yet…the anxiety, the overwhelm, and the burnout still don’t go away.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
Over the past 12 years as a therapist, I’ve noticed a pattern - many women understand their struggles intellectually but still stuck in the same beliefs and emotional cycles. Despite their insights, they find themselves reacting the same way in difficult moments, feeling drained in their relationships, and struggling to break free from burnout.
Why Awareness Alone Isn’t Enough
Because knowing something doesn’t automatically mean you can change it.
When you reflect on your past, pinpoint your triggers, and analyze your emotions, you’re using your thinking mind - the part of your brain that loves problem-solving. But healing isn’t just a mindset shift - it’s a full-body experience that involves your nervous system, your emotions, and the deeper layers of your subconscious.
If you’ve ever thought to yourself, ‘I understand my trauma, but I still feel anxious all the time,’ this happens because insight alone doesn’t rewire your nervous system. Your body still holds onto stress, and your old coping mechanisms- like people-pleasing, overworking, or emotional numbing - are deeply ingrained survival patterns.
How to Move from Insight to Lasting Change
If you’ve ever wondered, “I know my triggers - so why do they still control me?”, the key is learning to integrate your mind, body, and emotions in the healing process.
Here’s how:
Regulate Your Nervous System - If you’re constantly in a state of fight-or-flight, no amount of self-awareness will override your body’s stress response. Gentle breathwork, movement, or sensory-based grounding exercises can help you feel safe in your body.
Engage in Experiential Healing - Talking about emotions is helpful, but experiencing them through art therapy, visualization, or guided reflection allows for deeper processing beyond words.
Build a Relationship with Your Inner Parts - If part of you knows you need rest, but another part of you feels guilty for slowing down, there’s likely an internal conflict. Internal Family Systems (IFS) work can help you bring compassion to those opposing parts and find balance. Notice the inner critic, the overachiever, the protector/manager - and approach them with curiosity instead of judgment.
Rewire Automatic Reactions - Instead of fighting against your triggers, learn to pause and notice what’s happening in your body when you feel activated. Over time, this creates new neural pathways that allow for different responses.
Whenever I ask my clients what impacted them the most in our work together, they often point to the experiential exercises - whether it was mapping the inner world through art therapy, practicing nervous system regulation, or engaging in guided visualizations. Therapy with me goes beyond just talking; it’s about actively experiencing healing in a way that helps you process emotions on a deeper level.
What Healing Actually Feels Like
Healing doesn’t mean you’ll never feel stressed or triggered again. It means you’ll notice your reactions sooner, have more tools to work through them, and feel less controlled by them. Instead of spiraling into burnout and emotional exhaustion, you’ll know how to ground yourself, regulate your emotions, and approach challenges with resilience.
And that’s where the real transformation happens.
If you’re ready to move beyond just knowing your triggers and actually start healing them, I’d love to support you.
Ways to Work With Me:
1:1 Personalized Therapy Sessions to help you regulate your emotions and break free from burnout.
Free 5-Session Guide & Digital Resources - Guided prompts to help you integrate healing practices into your daily life (You can sign up when you return to the main page on my website!).
