Triggers and Stressors

Triggers and Stressors

Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This conversation between Shan, the Recovery Pastor at Trussell First United Methodist Church, and Scott Jones, chaplain at Brother Bryan Mission, digs into the messy, everyday reality of triggers and stressors in recovery.

Shan and Scott start by grounding everything in prayer and a clear definition: triggers are "anything that will invoke or stir old emotions, thoughts, anything that takes us back in time to a place where we were in an addiction." They talk through how something as simple as a song on the radio, the smell of a drink, a holiday, or even the sound of a pop-top can yank someone back towards old habits.

You’ll hear honest stories about what it means to set boundaries, from skipping the alcohol aisle in the supermarket to giving up hot wings, grilling, or fishing for a season because they were too closely tied to drinking. Scott jokes that, for a while, "it’s impossible to eat hot wings without a cold beer, right?" but shows how those limits helped protect his sobriety over more than 20 years. The episode also highlights how faith frames these guardrails.

They describe jail, rehab, or a mission as God’s "guardrails"—uncomfortable, sometimes unwanted, but life-saving. There’s a strong emphasis on being "a little selfish" with recovery, recognising that boundaries aren’t about judging others but about staying safe. Shan and Scott repeatedly return to one core idea: don’t just ask God to remove triggers; ask him for the strength to face them.

As Scott puts it, "when you run out is where God picks up." With humour, warmth, and plenty of real-life examples, this conversation is ideal for anyone in faith-based recovery who’s trying to work out what to do with those old songs, old friends, and old habits that still tug on the heart. It might leave you asking: which triggers in your own life need new guardrails today?