3 Ways I Described Why I Like Psychedelics While Tripping

Written thoughts during my first experience with Magic Mushrooms

It was just 2 years ago when I started hearing about Ayahuasca rituals. I was new to the “spiritual” world and clearly still had a lot to learn, but the common denominator people spoke of in regards to Ayahuasca ceremonies was the insane healing benefits.

I’d watch videos where people described how they were able to heal trauma that had weighed on them for years, all over the course of a few evenings. It sounded like the brink of enlightenment. I was fascinated, and as I did more research, I learned that Ayahausca wasn’t a magical spiritual potion crafted by Shamans. It’s basically a psychedelic tea.

Now, I’ve always been a late bloomer. Being relatively sheltered growing up, I have a track record of experimenting with things a bit later in the game. I was the last to buy a training bra in elementary school and the last to buy thongs in high school. I didn’t get drunk until I was 18, didn’t lose my virginity until I was 19, and didn’t smoke weed until I was 20.

O.K., so that was probably a little too much information. But, the point is — it took me a while to get to psychedelics.

The only time I’d really heard about psychedelics was during a psychology class in high school. My teacher played an outdated documentary that explored a wide variety of drugs and what they did to the brain. Of course, there were some scare tactics thrown in there.

Marijuana, cocaine, LSD, shrooms, MDMA, the whole 9 yards. The thought of being out of control of my body and potentially harming myself freaked me out enough to not think of them again. That is, until Ayahuasca came across my radar.

Breaking the Ice

Someone once told me that psychedelics will find you when you’re ready for them.

And they did find me, 2 years after my fascination with them began, in the form of LSD. I was on vacation with a group of friends and after a couple of alcohol-infused days, someone offered a change of pace.

“Would anyone want to try acid?”

Admittedly, LSD was not one of the psychedelics I’d done much research on; I was more focused on psilocybin mushrooms, Ayahuasca, and DMT (go big or go home). But I figured, hey, they found me — who was I to deny the little magical tabs?

I stuck it under my tongue and waited for the effects to take over my mind and body. And boy, did they. I was in absolute awe of everything around me; the clouds, trees, pool water, my friends. Different visuals began to surface making the world around me replicate a comic book cartoon. Bright flashes of color and fractalizations were everywhere.

Not only that, but I could tell I was in a much different headspace. I felt so full of love and gratitude for everything around me. I had some insightful realizations that truly changed my perspective on life.

I didn’t stop thinking about the experience for a week. Suddenly, I was back to researching psychedelics and the positive benefits they can have on our mental health. I finally had a psychedelic experience where I got a taste of the powerful healing everyone talks about.

I knew I wanted to do it again. But this time, I wanted to do it alone.

Meeting the Magical Mushrooms

I’d always thought my first psychedelic experience would be with magical mushrooms. It seemed like the starting point for pretty much everyone. And while it wasn’t my starting point, I decided they could take my solo- psychedelic-trip-virginity instead.

It wasn’t hard to attain the mushrooms. But, getting prepared to have a psychedelic experience all by myself was.

I was doing this around 11:00 P.M. on a Friday night in my house, all by myself. Only one other person knew I was doing it, and they were an 8-hour car ride away. In the past few weeks leading up to the night, I’d gone down rabbit holes on Reddit where people outlined their “bad trips”. I recalled friends telling me about their negative experience with shrooms, characterized by intense hallucinations and overwhelming anxiety.

It was scary to think about that happening to me all by my lonesome with no one to call.

Regardless, I prepared my environment and mindset for the evening and consumed the psilocybin mushrooms while I waited for them to hit me.

Now Entering: Higher Levels of Consciousness

I laid in bed and stared at the Van Gogh paintings on my wall. I knew the mushrooms were yielding their effects when the clouds on one of my paintings began to morph, and then suddenly brightened.

Admittedly, I felt anxious at first. I laid lifeless on my mattress as my mind filled with worry that my roommate would happen to come home, or that someone would literally break into my house while my mind was in a different dimension. I took a few deep breaths and finally felt myself relax.

That’s when the fun really began.

After I forced myself out of bed, I was hit with a wave of euphoria. The rest of my evening consisted of dancing to my favorite songs, laying in my backyard and watching the stars, eating cantaloupe while the juices dripped all over me, and listening to music with my eyes closed, watching various patterns and colors form right under my eyelids.

It was insane. My mind was at complete peace, and I felt myself begin to reflect upon and question some recent struggles I’d been having. Being a writer, I made sure to keep my journal open and a pen close. If any realizations came about, I wanted to write them down and remember.

I learned a lot of lessons that night, and have been able to integrate them thanks to having written them down. And one thing I discovered was why I like and appreciate psychedelics.

Here are 3 things I wrote down while I was tripping, trying to describe the feeling that being under the influence of psychedelics gives me:

“I think I like it because I feel like I have superpowers.”

The first thought I wrote of the evening was truly a philosophical one. I was still in the early stages of the psilocybin taking its effect at this point.

Remember the Van Gogh painting I mentioned earlier? The clouds morphing was the tell-tale sign that I was definitely starting to trip. This thought surfaced as I stood in front of the painting and watched it start moving in front of me all over again.

I was waving my hands around in front of me, and it almost appeared like they were moving in slow motion and leaving blurry trails.

Not only that, but I was also listening to some of my favorite songs and felt like I could hear every single minute detail. I’d listened to some of these songs hundreds of times, yet my ears were ringing with new and unfamiliar sounds.

It was beautiful. Watching images morph and hearing the beautiful melodies made me feel like I had access to superpowers.

I’d always wanted to be a superhero.

“You feel interconnected with the entire universe. I feel the universe inside of me.”

I wrote this down during the peak of my trip. Some insane things started happening to me that gave me the firsthand experience of “oneness” that I’ve seen recounted during shroom trips.

At this point, I was laying in my bed again. All of the lights were off except a luminous, bright purple light. I was listening to my curated playlist with headphones in my ears. Suddenly, it looked like there were music notes or vibrations in the sky that were strumming to the beat of the songs.

Then, I closed my eyes and started watching different patterns, shapes, and colors explode behind my eyelids. Again, it appeared as if they were dancing and changing with the beat of the songs.

I decided it was time to take that party outside. Still listening to my playlist, I started touching my plants and they looked like they were breathing and waving with the music. I was absolutely amazed by the synchronicities that were happening right before my eyes.

And then it occurred to me. We’re all interconnected; humans, animals, plants, trees, clouds. Everything is intertwined and synchronized.

“It feels as close as I’ll ever get to going to space.”

Towards the end of my psychedelic venture, I plopped down supine in the grass and stared at the clear night sky.

I was able to make out different constellations and watched the solo stars twinkle in their glory. It was seriously magnificent. I started thinking about how the stars are always right there, showing off every evening. Yet, I never slow down to pay attention and appreciate them.

I’ve always been fascinated by outer space, and at this moment the night sky felt like it was just an arm’s reach away. Like I could stick out my hand and grab a star if I really wanted to.

It then occurred to me: this was the closest I’d ever get to traveling to outer space. But it was perfectly good enough for me.

Your Brain on Psilocybin

All in all, my trip to the land of magic mushrooms was a life-changing one that taught me a lot of lessons. It even gave me some humorous insight as to why I enjoy embarking on psychedelic experiences.

The next day in a sober state, I became curious about different aspects of my trip.

Where did my introspective thoughts come from?

What happens to our brain that causes visual hallucinations?

And how exactly does psilocybin help combat depression?

More evidence is coming out around psilocybin and the positive effects it can have on our brains. In fact, just 3 weeks ago Oregon became the first state to legalize psychedelic mushrooms.

According to Business Insider, it all starts when you ingest the psilocybin mushroom. Your gut converts it into psilocin which binds to serotonin receptors called 2A. This is what experts think triggers “neuronal avalanching”: a domino effect of different changes in the brain.

With increased activity in our visual cortex, we experience changes in our perception as well as decreased network activity in the default mode network, which leads to a loss of ego.

The Business Insider article goes further to describe the brain synchronicities as an orchestra:

Because of that receptor activation, there is a profound change in the way that different areas of the brain synchronize with each other. Think of it like an orchestra. Normally, the brain has different musical groups that each play independently. A sextet there, here’s a quartet there. This one’s playing jazz. This one’s classical, and a number of other ones. But once psilocybin enters, it’s like you suddenly have a conductor. So there is this communication between areas that are normally kind of compartmentalized and doing their own thing.

So, when the conductor (in the form of mushrooms) gets to work, new areas in our brains start talking to each other. This gives us the ability to have epiphanies, new insights to old problems, and with high doses: ego death.

The combination of these effects is what scientists believe make psilocybin a useful tool for combatting mental health issues, such as depression and addiction.

Final Thoughts

This article isn’t meant to promote the use of psychedelics. When I was tripping, I literally had the idea to share my shroom-fogged thoughts as to why I appreciate psychedelic experiences.

Seriously. I wrote it down.

All jokes aside, I genuinely believe in the healing powers of psychedelics when used with intention. There’s a reason that magic mushrooms are being legalized for therapeutic use and decriminalized. The power of its use stretches far beyond recreational fun.

And it’s being proven with further scientific studies supporting the fact that psilocybin can aid in healing depression, PTSD, and addiction.

With only 2 psychedelic experiences under my belt, I’m by no means a black belt psychonaut. But, they’ve both given me access to insight and lessons that may have otherwise taken me years to understand.

Plus, some of the thoughts that surface are really funny.