Stage 4 · Lesson 5 of 7
Your triggers and patterns
Once you can name feelings, start tracking when they come. For two weeks, each time you notice a strong emotion, write four things: the time, where you were, who you were with, what had just happened. Also note sleep, food and screen time that day.
Patterns appear quickly. Many people find their worst moods follow short sleep, skipped meals, long scrolling sessions or contact with one particular person. Others find specific triggers: being compared with a cousin, a certain type of deadline, being interrupted.
Knowing your triggers does not mean avoiding everything, but it lets you prepare, rest beforehand or ask for what you need.
Common trapblaming each bad day on whatever happened last, without looking at the pattern across weeks.
A question to check yourself and an AI practice session come when you add the roadmap to your account. Add it
Resources for this stage
Start with· follow one of these
- VideoFreeWhy We All Need to Practice Emotional First Aid (Guy Winch, TEDxLinnaeusUniversity)
Guy Winch (TEDxLinnaeusUniversity)
Why we look after small emotional injuries less well than physical ones, in one talk
- GuideFreeNHS Every Mind Matters
NHS (England)
Free NHS self-help for stress, low mood and sleep, with a short personal plan
Practise
Keep handy
Also worth your time
Struggling right now? If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, contact local emergency services or a crisis line: Find a helpline (any country), Umang (Pakistan), Tele-MANAS, 14416 (India).