I first encountered psychedelics in 2006. At that time, I was a much different person than I am today. Several issues had plagued my life for a long time, yet I remained unaware of them, caught up in the day-to-day dramas of life.
But things have changed a lot since then, and psychedelics played a significant role in that process.
In this blog post I will share some of the ways that psychedelics helped me become a better person. I hope that sharing my story will help reduce the stigma surrounding these special medicines and show that they are capable of helping with many different things.
Improving My Mental Health
One of the biggest ways that psychedelics helped me was by alleviating a variety of mental health issues that I used to experience on a daily basis. For pretty much my whole life I suffered from depression and anxiety. There were times when I was unable to do anything, paralyzed by fear and hopelessness. It was miserable, to say the least.
I didn’t have much patience and tended to get angry and fly off the handle over the dumbest things. I wouldn’t say that I had a short fuse, but I definitely didn’t have much control over my anger in the past. Working with psychedelics helped me develop more patience and less anger.
While psychedelics haven’t completely eliminated my dark thoughts, they did help me learn how to love and embrace them instead of trying to run from them.
Quitting Bad Habits and Creating Better Ones
Another major benefit that I’ve experienced from working with psychedelics has been stopping the bad habits that weren’t serving me and creating new ones that actually do.
I’ve intentionally used psychedelics to help me work through addictions (tobacco, alcohol, and food) and to stop interrupting other people while they’re speaking.
In place of those bad habits I have created new ones—a daily yoga and meditation practice, weekly journaling sessions, eating a healthy diet, and just taking care of myself better in general. Although I put in a ton of work to get to the place I am now, I have psychedelics to thank for helping me get here.
Increasing My Appreciation for Nature
When I was younger I was always perplexed by people who found joy in simple things like sunsets, flowers, and walks on the beach. As a nerdy kid who just wanted to stay inside and play video games, I just didn’t get it.
It took just one psilocybin mushroom trip to change all that forever.
An hour after eating some mushrooms I found myself absolutely fascinated with the natural environment I was in. I remember being completely entranced by the birds chirping in the trees nearby, bugs whizzing by me, and the clouds floating through the sky.
This recognition of the natural environment has continued to this day. Psychedelics helped me develop an appreciation for nature that was missing prior to my experience with them, and I am eternally grateful to them for that.
Finding Joy in Life
Let’s not forget one of the most important aspects of psychedelics, one that is rarely mentioned due to the effort to legitimize them for the mainstream public—they can be fun too! A lot of folks in the movement try to downplay the recreational side of psychedelics but I think this is a huge mistake.
Just because psychedelics can be enjoyable doesn’t discount their potential for healing, spirituality, or productivity.
The beginning of the word “recreation” is “recreate”, and I have found that recreating myself through my recreational psychedelic trips has been just as transformational for me as the experiences that were intentionally created for healing or spiritual purposes.
And Tons of Other Things
Psychedelics have helped me with so many other things too. Here are some of the ones that made a big impact on my life:
Increased openness (especially with regard to spirituality)
More tolerance and acceptance
Enhanced creativity and ability to enter flow states
Increased compassion for myself and others
Understanding better how my actions affect others
An ability to see the bigger picture
Highlighting the people I should (and shouldn’t) keep in my life
Better life satisfaction
Improved social relationships
Increased confidence
Better at dealing with awkward or uncomfortable situations
Showed me what’s possible (although I still had to do the work to achieve it)
Helped me find my passions
Assisted with setting goals
Learning how to surrender
Keep my mind young and playful
After spending the last 14 years working with psychedelics, I think it’s fair to say that I’ve become a much better person than I used to be. I owe them a huge debt of gratitude, and I’m proud to be part of the growing movement to show the mainstream public that they have the potential to be agents of positive change in a world that is desperately needing just that.
Image by johnhain, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.
