EP 246: What to Do When You're Triggered ~ A Real-Time, 6-Step Recovery Game Plan (Perfect for the Holidays)🎃

You're at a family dinner. Someone makes a comment about your body or what's on your plate. Suddenly your chest is tight, your mind is racing, and you're already planning tomorrow's restriction or extra workout. Sound familiar?

In this episode, Lindsey Nichol gives you a real-time, actionable game plan for working through triggers as they happen—not tomorrow, not after the holidays, but RIGHT NOW. Whether it's an upcoming holiday gathering, a comment from a loved one, or scrolling social media, you'll learn exactly what to do in those moments when you feel completely out of control.

Lindsey walks you through six powerful steps to move through triggering situations without falling back into restriction, over-exercising, or shame spirals. This isn't theory—this is practical, do-it-now guidance that will help you act from your healed self instead of your wounded self.

What You'll Learn:

• Why your body's physical response to triggers is actually giving you valuable information
• The 6-step method to work through any triggering situation in real-time
• How to identify what your body and emotions are actually asking for (hint: it's not restriction)
• The "Act As If Now" principle that changes everything about how you respond to triggers
• A real client story of working through a triggering family gathering
• Why you have to stop operating from your unhealed self and start making decisions from freedom

Key Takeaways:

✨ Your body isn't broken—it's trying to protect you based on old experiences that aren't happening right now

✨ You can't heal what you won't feel—naming your emotions is essential to moving through triggers

✨ The emotions you feel during triggers exist because they once kept you safe, but you get to choose differently now

✨ What would your best self do? Your future self who's already free? Act as if you're already her—because you are

✨ One triggering moment doesn't define your recovery—how you respond does

The 6-Step Trigger Game Plan:

1. Notice Your Body - Is your chest tight? Shoulders tense? Jaw clenched? Your body is giving you information
2. Breathe - Hand on belly, breathe in for 4 counts, out for 6. Create space between the trigger and your reaction
3. Name the Sensation - Where is the tension? The tightness? The heaviness? What is your body saying?
4. Name the Emotion - I feel scared. Sad. Ashamed. Out of control. Unworthy. Name it out loud
5. Compassion - That emotion exists because it once kept you safe. Your body is being reminded of an old experience. Give yourself grace
6. Meet Your Now Needs - What do you need right now? A break? A phone call? Food? To do the opposite action? Then ACT AS IF you're already recovered

Powerful Quotes from This Episode:

"What you do in the next few minutes after you feel triggered will either keep you stuck in the same cycle or move you one step closer to the freedom you're desperately craving."

"You can't heal what you won't feel."

"That old experience isn't happening right now. You're not that little girl anymore who learned she had to earn love or approval."

"Stop operating from your unhealed self. Stop letting the wounds make the decisions. Stop letting the fear drive the bus."

"You ARE that future version of yourself. She's not some distant dream. She's you—making the next right choice in this moment."

Ready for More Support?

If you need help working through triggers and breaking free from the restrict-binge cycle, join The Recovery Collective—Lindsey's group support program where you get live weekly coaching, a supportive community, and the exact tools you need to find lasting food freedom.

Learn more at: www.herbestself.co/recoverycollective

Connect with Lindsey

• Website: www.herbestself.co 
• Private Facebook Community: Her Best Self Society www.herbestselfsociety.com 
• 1:1 Client Applications: HBS Co. Recovery Coaching - Client Application - Google Forms

Love this episode? Here's how you can support:

💝 Rate and review to help more perfectionists find freedom 💝 Share with a friend who's stuck in the perfection trap 💝 Join the Facebook community for recovery hugs and support 💝 Apply for 1:1 coaching if you're ready for personalized guidance

Special Announcements:

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If You're Reading This and Struggling:

You don't have to be perfect at recovery. You don't have to check all the boxes. You don't have to be further along than you are.

Success is showing up today, even when yesterday was hard. Success is choosing growth over perfection. Success is becoming who you're meant to be, not achieving some impossible standard.

You are worthy. You are strong. You are perfectly capable right now, today, to lean into the biggest struggle of your life.

Consider this your virtual hug from Lindsey. You've got this, beautiful.

Her Best Self with Lindsey Nichol is a podcast for women in eating disorder recovery who are ready to break free from perfectionism, people-pleasing, and diet culture to live authentically and wholeheartedly.

*While I am a certified health coach, anorexia survivor & eating disorder recovery coach, I do not intend the use of this message to serve as medical advice. Please refer to the disclaimer here in the show & be sure to contact a licensed clinical provider if you are struggling with an eating disorder.