• Psychedelic Drugs Welcome Guest
    View threads about
    Posting RulesBluelight Rules
    PD's Best Threads Index
    Social ThreadSupport Bluelight
    Psychedelic Beginner's FAQ

The psychedelic exoerience - How has it changed for you as you aged?

Changa707

Changa707

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 25, 2014
Messages
162
Hey everyone, now I could talk about psychedelics all day...but I want to make this short and sweet as not to bore you. The question here is really concerning your personal experience/opinion relating to the psychedelic experience....

First time I took psychedelics was maybe at the age of 14....and I took them on a regular basis for about 2 years ( so maybe about 20 experiences between the age of 14 and 16 ). The varieties I would take ranged from Psilocybe azurescens to your classic liberty cap...to Psilocybe cyanescens. I would usually pick wild, and eat about 50-100 fresh caps (in tea)....or dried Cubensis I would buy and eat about 1/8th oz. typically.

Anyways....I'm not going to go into detail about the trips here, but the experiences with wild mushrooms were always superior...very down to earth experiences!!!

Now this is where it gets tricky for me looking back....now that im in my 20s I have a totally different expeirence with psychedelics. Keep in mind that when I was a teenager all my trips were positive and extrememly mystical....now the last two psychedelic trips I have had have been utter distasters. The best I could describe them as are "Existential crisis's" of some sort....in the sense that everything I experienced seemed false and psychotic.

I have also had negative reactions years ago from wild mushrooms, and it seems to be more related to my age than what kind of musrhooms/what dose. That is because when I started maturing I felt more and more fearful of the psychedelic world for some reason. Like now I am more hesitant to dive headfirst into that world.

There is a lot more I can say, but I don;t want to make it too long...but have any of you expeireicned a diminishment of enjoyment/spiritiuality from trips as you progressed in age? Especially from teenager to adult....this was the critical time for me in this case.
 
For me, and a lot of people in their twenties they're already in a sort of 'soul searching' mode of their lives, especially if they haven't got a career path, or a life plan, blah blah blah, you get the gist. This was how it was for me - all of my trips for a while there got very serious and introverted. Now in my thirties and a little more settled into life I only trip a few times a year, but when I do it's more like tripping as a carefree teenager again. Its all about balancing the experiences between all of the crazy shit that every twenty something faces, and sometimes that means not tripping for a while or not as often otherwise you'll likely spend the entire trip in rough seas lol. I'd probably be one of those babbling burnouts if I kept tripping at the frequency that I did in my early twenties.
 
Yeah I remember the high school trips, the only real concern was having parents interrupt the trip or having the idea of class worry me to no end. Neither really ever happened and I was happy enough with my life and had no real responsibilities or issues. Now I am on methadone trying to figure out where to go next, trying to help my girlfriend of 5 years stay clean too while working full time and having all of my lifes goals pushed to the side.

I worry if I trip at anywhere other then a festival my real life will leak in and I may have to face myself with a weakened ego, the idea is terrifying. I dont want to face thoughts of ruining my life, my girlfriends, not getting a degree my little brother being in jail for dope ect ect. I know at a festival ill be fine, because that is like a different life. By simply shutting off my phone and seeing music I can get away from those thoughts. I hope i can have purely introspective trips once things get better, and they are, but until then I need my ego to get through the day.
 
Yeah music festivals are nice! It would almost be impossible to have a bad trip at one. Actually, Mother Nature damn near forced me into one when tornadoes swarmed near our festival canceling over half of the headliners, and leaving me tripping at strong +++ surrounded by thousands of pissed off hippies that came out between the tent-city-destroying storms lol! That was one of the most challenging recent trips I've had! Normally, though, festivals are about as good of set & setting as it gets!
 
When you are young, the lack of baggage makes tripping in the moment a lot easier. As you get older there is more of a tendency for the mind to get involved with the past or the future.
Then, when you get considerably older, those issues get resolved to a degree, and it becomes easier to trip in the moment again, with perhaps a greater understanding of it from experience.
 
No, I don't think age has anything to do with it. The psychedelic path is totally free and open at all ages. Doesn't seem to get any less spectacular with age.
 
I have a theory that endogenous MAO increases with age. Does anyone have info to substantiate/refute that?
 
RhythmSpring said:
I have a theory that endogenous MAO increases with age. Does anyone have info to substantiate/refute that?
Click to expand...

I've noticed my visuals have gotten stronger over the years. Especially after trying things like 2c-b. Thats probably more of HPPD thing though.
 
In my early 20's i found mushrooms to be an incredible eye opener, i had many short but powerful glimpses into the nature of awareness and lots of fun, only a couple really challenging times, eventually i started intenesly seeking to have the experience of pure awareness without the substance through hatha & jnana yoga, it was years of arduous seeking and during this time i would only feel existential despair when i tripped, in my late 20's/early 30's after i felt that i could reliably 'remain aware' i started dabbling in psychedelics again, and found my trips are now 90% beautiful fully majestic clarity compared to the few glimpses i used to get

It makes sense that as one grows older they might grow more resitant to psychedelics, the greater quantity of conditioning gathered may be hard to break through, that's why it's good to work on yourself when your sober, also when you have a breakthrough and really understand the indestructable nature of being then bad trips are almost impossible, you still have to purge & go through ego-death but you dive into it with little resistance knowing that nothing can harm you

To me it sounds like you've hit the existential crisis stage and could do with some sober soul searching
 
Samulson said:
When you are young, the lack of baggage makes tripping in the moment a lot easier. As you get older there is more of a tendency for the mind to get involved with the past or the future.
Then, when you get considerably older, those issues get resolved to a degree, and it becomes easier to trip in the moment again, with perhaps a greater understanding of it from experience.
Click to expand...

This ^
well said :)
 
Since I started taking psychedelics, I've become a lot better at tripping.

The effects of psychedelic drugs are a lot more predictable on me now (as a 25 year old) than they were back when I was 18. I have always found them euphoric, but my first few trips were extremely confusing and weird. I can handle my shit a lot better on these drugs nowadays because the psychedelic state of mind feels very familiar.

Tripping is very much a skill - it's not like getting high off cocaine or opiates for example. I'd say it's more like the mental equivalent of surfing or skateboarding. You can't fully appreciate the experience until you've done it a few times... it takes some getting used to.
 
at 18, shrooms were big fun and I took lots of it and was beautiful
at 20, I took too much drugs, my life was fucked and I was fucked, so psychedelics were a nightmare
at 24, I came back with mescaline and dmt which healed me a lot!
at 27, every trip is a wonderful journey and deepens my understanding and my role in my life. Theres some rough bits but thats what life is and honestly, the rough bits were the most beneficial at the end!
If I dont practice, I get bitch slapped a bit but when I do practice, psychadelics seems to bring to me state of bliss which I am very grateful for and keeps me going.
 
really the biggest changes have been between experiences. at first i began noticing visual hallucinations that i think had always been there. i also began noticing the details of peoples faces (smiles, frowns, eyes, ect.). later i began noticing the intonation in peoples voices. i started recognizing people (including myself) as individuals with emotions, personal motives, and premeditation of action. the entire time my handwriting improved and i experienced significant decreases in retrograde amnesia. More recently I have started knowing about social Qs. also that hallucinating i mentioned earlier is almost gone.

referencing the actual psychedelic experiences, i now have more immersive experiences, with greater complexity, and less euphoria than in the past. i require much lower doses of psychedelics (example: 20mg of DMT is a breakthrough experience and in the past i couldn't breakthrough on 50mg). i experience increased sensitivity to psychedelic afterglows and notice the differences in each chemicals afterglow. my experiences are shorter. that is what changed.
 
The few trips I had in my teens came with strong body loads and were giggly and confusing. Trips in my early twenties were probably the most intense, profound and analytical. Nowadays (25) they always feel less deep and more recreational, probably because I am in a more stable place in my life and am not looking for answers when tripping. Visually they've gotten more intense, probably because I've "learned to trip" better x).
 
St3ve said:
Visually they've gotten more intense, probably because I've "learned to trip" better x).
Click to expand...

Curiously... I've noticed the right opposite, specially with OEVs. I remember the OEVs of my first trips and they were amazing. They are not so colorful and impressive anymore, even on 'common-strong' dosages based on Erowid suggestions.

Do you keep the same dosages/trip frequency than before? :)

I'm jealous :p
 
MrHH said:
Curiously... I've noticed the right opposite, specially with OEVs. I remember the OEVs of my first trips and they were amazing. They are not so colorful and impressive anymore, even on 'common-strong' dosages based on Erowid suggestions.

Do you keep the same dosages/trip frequency than before? :)

I'm jealous :p
Click to expand...
I reckon that's probably more of a psychological thing. When you take them on a regular basis, the 'magic'/novelty factor is lost. Personally I still get great visuals off psychedelics but the #1 reason I take them is for the musical synesthesia and the extreme euphoria and relaxation they give me.
 
MrHH said:
Curiously... I've noticed the right opposite, specially with OEVs. I remember the OEVs of my first trips and they were amazing. They are not so colorful and impressive anymore, even on 'common-strong' dosages based on Erowid suggestions.

Do you keep the same dosages/trip frequency than before? :)

I'm jealous :p
Click to expand...

In my first few trips visuals were noticeably absent. It wasn't until the first time I took acid and was staring at the floor whilst taking a poo I realized things would start moving if I kept my eyes fixated. If you then go into some sort of concentrated/meditative state of mind the visuals keep building up onto each other.

My dose range has shifted from the low-medium end of erowids "common" category to the higher end of that or the lower end of strong/heavy... While visuals are somewhat dose dependent, I can still make them appear to an extent on treshold-light doses (depending on the chem I guess).
 
taking a dump on acid isnt a very nice feeling, i like being in or under water personally, also staring at any geometric designs, or chain link fences
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top