204. When Avoiding Isn't Enough204. When Avoiding Isn't Enough
Hope in Recovery
The conversation centres on triggers in recovery, suggesting that growth comes through boundaries, community support and faith, rather than trying to remove triggers entirely. Andy Petry shares his own experiences and biblical encouragement to highlight how small, consistent steps can build resilience over time.
24:11•29 Sept 2026
When Avoiding Isn’t Enough: Learning to Grow Through Triggers
Episode Overview
- Triggers are everyday moments that push people toward familiar coping mechanisms, and recognising them is a key part of recovery.
- Boundaries can reduce exposure to known triggers, but they are protections, not the core healing work.
- Resilience grows as people practise tools like calling a sponsor, praying and sharing honestly with others in recovery.
- Faith in Jesus and biblical promises, such as 1 Corinthians 10, are presented as sources of strength to endure temptation.
- Lasting recovery is described as a journey of building healthy connection with God and others, one small "next right step" at a time.
“Recovery is not about eliminating all the triggers in our life, but it gives us the tools we need to walk in a healthy way through the triggers in healthy connection with God and others.”
Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of how triggers can shake recovery, yet also become a chance for growth. In this Hope in Recovery conversation, you'll hear Andy Petry unpack why "avoiding isn't enough" when it comes to the daily sparks that pull people back toward old coping mechanisms.
Andy, a grateful believer in Jesus who shares openly about struggles with food issues, depression, grief and sexual addiction, talks honestly about triggers as those moments that nudge the mind and heart towards acting out. From harsh feedback at work to car trouble, home repairs and even romantic subplots in TV sitcoms, he shows how seemingly ordinary events can turn into powerful prompts for addiction.
Rather than chasing the impossible goal of removing every trigger, Andy points to a different question: how can someone grow through triggers? He explains the role of practical boundaries—changing social circles, avoiding certain places, adjusting viewing habits—while stressing that boundaries are "roadblocks", not the full solution or the healing itself. A big part of the conversation centres on resilience, community, and faith in Christ.
Andy shares how picking up the phone to call his sponsor for prayer helps diffuse anger and temptation in real time, highlighting that "you and I were created for connection" and that a real human voice can regulate emotions in a way that search engines or chatbots simply can't.
Grounded in passages like 1 Corinthians 10, James 4 and Hebrews 12, the episode frames triggers as opportunities to lean into God’s faithfulness, build perseverance, and take the "next right step" one day at a time. Anyone wrestling with the fear that they’ll never outrun temptation may find comfort in the idea that recovery is about learning to walk through triggers with God and others, rather than trying to erase them completely.
If triggers feel like they’re running the show in your life, could this be the reminder that growth happens one prayer, one phone call, and one small step at a time?
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