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Trips more serious and less recreational the more experience you have?

Kallisti23

Kallisti23

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Aug 6, 2015
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I have found that after several years of regular psychedelic use I find it harder and harder to have a 'carefree' enjoyable recreational trip. I would always have done a mixture of solo and social trips, mainly solo, but lately I have noticed that when I trip in public and social settings my trips seem to get quite serious and introspective (which I would usually mainly get when tripping solo). There was a period after I had been tripping for a while that I had become fairly accustomed to the experience and could trip in almost any setting.

But, the last few times that I have tripped in a public social setting, not just at home with close friends, that my trips start to take on a more serious flavour. For example, I went to see Austrailan Pink Floyd, a seemingly perfect setting for an enjoyable hedonistic experience. I took a relatively low dose of 2CB (16mg) and a sliver of a tab of a friends acid ( it couldn't have been more than a micro dose, max 20ug), and for a large part of the gig I couldn't stop fixating on the crowd around me, seeing reflections of myself in all of them. Admittedly me and my friend group are starting to get on a bit in age but we're not that old yet, but every drunk and loutish middle-aged group of men I saw clinging desperately to a distant youth seemed like reflections of me and my friends in the future, which became a source of introspection and fixation on where my life is headed and distracted me from the music and show. I had a similar experience to this the last time I took a high dose of 2CB in the city and saw my friend and I as two middle aged men with wrinkles and all, in what seemed like 20 years from now doing the exact same thing we are now, again leading to life-examining introspection. This obliviously speaks to subconscious insecurities I have about aging and what I am doing with my life. This never used to happen to me when I socially tripped before, especially with 2CB which is usually quite mellow in psychological terms. I also feel like I probably wouldn't be able to handle the same dosages as I would a year or two ago.

My ability to handle tripping solo is still very strong though.

Obviously with the nature of psychs and the importance of set and setting there can be many variables (maybe my set is in a worse state). When I was a bit less experienced I seemed to almost be more resilient and have more control over my trips. It seems like a bit of a paradox to loose control with more experience, but has anyone else experienced this phenomena?

I'd be curious to hear if anyone else has experienced anything similar or has any thought / theories on this.
 
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in a public social setting, you should let yourself be natural or low dose.
as you say, setting, you mean "setting"
and so let me just re-iterate, that the prep for any psychedelic is set and setting.
the idea is not about partying and "social setting's"
psychedelics are naturally introspective.
let your next 20 trips let them be in private and then you can see if you were too introspective or just the right amount.

at various points in a trip you may have some lovely phenomena occur. while this may seem like a party, I assure you it is much more about your integration with set and setting, than any festive entertainment.

that said, many people look at these drugs as sacraments, and they engage in social observance of holiness and holidays. if you need a group activity, a holy psychedelic event might be your ticket. in any case the journey is personal, any social aspect is about sharing what you have encountered, but you need the freedom and privacy to encounter what you must.
 
It's the opposite for me, every one of my early trips was profound, my very first one changed my life. These days I use them a lot more recreationally, which is probably a big part of the reason they're less serious, but also because I'm very used to the effects of psychedelics so it's harder for them to blast me away out of control like they used to.
 
Mine have become more routine as well but if I aim for a high dose in the right setting I can still get the serious trip, these usually happen with a substance I haven't taken in awhile or a new one. Mushrooms can still rocket me off like the first time assuming I take enough. I recall getting unexpected results from just a couple of grams the last time I took them. I think it was mostly the setting though. It was a mild trip until I dived into a pool and as soon as I hit the water things turned rather serious. It was strong enough that I left and returned to my bedroom. LSD on the other hand has become so routine that I think nothing of takings a couple of tabs and just going about my day. It isn't great HR advice but I've gotten so accustomed to the effects that I have no issue driving on them. I do have the benefit of having a lot of space away from the public to drive in though, I wouldn't attempt it in a large city again even though I feel I could handle it fine. I've earned a reputation for begin able to drive well on LSD to the point people are stunned by it. My main concern with doing that is the police, in a pinch I've done it twice without issue. It's like I can turn the effects off for the duration of the drive. I am a natural at driving though and was trained well by my father, I drive so well that I have to hold back when riding 4 wheelers or racing go-karts with other people because I'm afraid they'll push themselves too much and get hurt in an attempt to keep up with me. It's like I become one with the car, if my family would have been more wealthy I'd probably be doing it as a career.
 
I agree with Xorkoth, my earlier trips seemed much more introspective and mind bending but the more I became accustomed to the psychedelic states of mind, the more I began to notice the repetitive factors each trip holds, i.e: I don't really find much introspection or mind fuckery from LSD that I did before. It's almost become a clear headed chemical for me. Recently it's been 'okay 45 minutes in now my countertops starting to ungulate, hour and a half in let's go for a walk/look at the sky. It's really been disappointing that nothing new has happened for me and I'm to the point to where I have to take a few months in between trips just to get that magic out of the substances again. I'd also agree with pupnik though and have your next few trips alone out in nature or something along the lines of that to see if it's just the setting and sheer amount of people that's throwing you off. Some people just don't bode well taking these substances in a public setting. When I rave I can take up to 3-400 mics and I don't really notice the visuals too much, it's more of the feelings the tabs give me that I go after.

When I started out using psychedelics they really used to mess with my head, LSD used to make me think the people around me had a sinister plot against me, I'd even heard my cars GPS saying weird things it shouldn't have one time. Now that doesn't happen anymore.
 
I get what you all mean. My earlier (solo) trips used to as a rule very profound with nice and valuable introspection. The last year or so I've become very accustomed to tripping at home, I can take a hit of acid and go about my daily day at home, interacting with people in the house, going to the shops, cooking etc. I can also handle good doses and no problem myself when I'm going Solo. It's only when I am out in public that this problem seems to arise. When I first started out with psychedelics years ago my primary way of taking them was in a party atmosphere. Maybe switching from that way of doing them for more serious personal work has programmed my psyche to not view them as a recreational tool any more. To be honest I think that it could just be my personal psychological mindset at the moment not being conductive to frivolous party tripping, judging by the recurrent theme I obviously have a hang-up about reaching a new stage in life. Maybe I'll test my way forward with a very low dose and with the right substance. I still think 2CB is the right substance, I might just test a low dose as social lubricant and save the LSD and Mushrooms for solo Voyages.
 
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Yeah choice of psychedelic is important when trying to have a social trip. 2C-B is a great one for a social lubricant since it's so easygoing and non-confrontational, and euphoric. I find LSD to be good for it too, but not at high doses, and DOC is one of my favorites for social settings. I have a few friends I can trip hard with if we're just by ourselves too but they're very close and also seasoned trippers (one of them I met in this forum originally). I would never take mushrooms in a social setting that wasn't just a few close friends, or something like DPT.
 
To be honest I think it might be from tapping into some deep rooted insecurities and life anxieties about my position in the social world that I have whilst on psychedelics, which I feel comfortable tackling when I am tripping alone, or that don't come to the forefront as much then. When I trip alone it is usually always a very psycho-spiritual personal trip, and relatively easy to guide with choice of stimuli and setting. When tripping in public I am confronted on all sides by the concensous social world and how I relate to it. When I was younger I didn't give a crap about my position in the social-scheme of things, I was young, ignorant and carefree. So maybe it's ultimately an age and insecurity thing - the 'old man' trip theme seem to be a point in case. It even got to the point a couple of years ago where I couldn't take large-ish doses of ketamine any more without experiencing a large sweeping expose of life, the universe and my place in it. Damn, I just realised writing this that I really need to sort this existential / ontological angst out. I'm by no means saying it can't be, I still have fun times with them, but I think the older we get and more life-experience and wisdom we aquire the less psychedelics become just a recreational toy. To paraphrase McKenna, psychedelics are extraordinarily forgiving to beginners, and unforgiving to veterans.

Ps. Forgive me if I am making the classic error of applying my own subjective experiences as universal, I'm sure they're not. But I can't be the only one...
 
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I was gonna say, as to McKenna's quote, it's been the exact opposite for me, my trips were brutal (but also powerful and ultimately wonderful) to me when I started. But I was much more insecure when I was young, so I think you're pretty spot-on that it has to do with life circumstances and your current mental/emotional state. When I was young, I was pretty traumatized by my peers who had been picking on me and ostracizing me since first grade. I was insecure and not confident in myself and social interactions were difficult for me except with friends and family. So my trips tended to cause a lot of anxiety, especially at the beginning. It was actually through tripping and forcing myself to face these feelings that I started to build my confidence. Now, at 34, I feel by far the most confident in myself that I ever have. Hence, my trips are more forgiving and easier.

You're not the only one though, I have heard various people echo your thoughts about age and tripping.
 
I've had the opposite experience as well. When I first started tripping, every trip was ego dissolution, profound questions about the nature of reality and consciousness, and all that jazz. I had to be especially careful about setting to make sure I could always withdraw to be alone with my thoughts when 'that part' of the peak hit. Now that I've got over a decade of experience with a list of psychedelic compounds too long to remember, my trips are almost purely light and recreational. It takes heroic doses and/or novel combinations, along with just the right set and setting, to induce a more 'profound' experience.
 
I do have 45 years of experience with psychedelics and not a single trip has ever been purely recreational, even at low dose with the intent of just having fun.

I had some difficult, fun, dull and ecstatic moments while tripping but age has nothing to do with that. Surprisingly, I had blissful, satori trips in chaotic environments like at an Alice Cooper concert in 1972. Sometimes, a perfect set and setting, like camping in spectacular pristine wilderness, a few years ago, did no good to have a worthwhile trip.

I’d say the only difference is that I learned how to navigate more effectively and to integrate insights in day to day life. I can achieve much more with ridiculously low dosages and do not feel the need to trip as frequently as before. Life has never been so fulfilling as it is now.

What a long strange trip!!!
 
If anything mine have become the opposite, the first couple times I tripped I was in complete awe, the whole time. As the thing you didn't think was possible, is.

I still get those feelings, but not every time. I spend a lot more time during my trips pissing myself with laughter with my buddies nowadays, taking many of the dubious, often-contradictory realizations I have during my trips with a grain of salt.
 
^^ Exactly the same. :) I love tripping still and I occasionally have a really standout, profound trip, but most of the time I'm trying to have fun with my friends, laugh and engage in wordplay and be silly. And in all cases, I don't believe everything I experience anymore. Although mostly the types of insights I get these days are about my own personality or the way I interact with people, things of that nature, and they're true and useful insights most of the time.
 
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Mine have become more and more serious and spiritual as the years have gone on, yes.

I don't believe it would be the case were I not also deepening my spiritual practices, readings, and perspective. But, seeing as I am, they just get deeper and deeper every time.
 
Don't get me wrong, every trip I have doesn't result in spiritual revelations and I do still have some very hedonistic fun light-hearted trips, generally with lower doses though. It seems to go in stages for me, maybe it's not so much to do with how long or not you have been using psychedelics but more to do with what life stage you are going through at the time. The old set and setting again...
 
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Word my last trip was at Red rocks watching PAPADOSIO headline. I had waited years for this moment to finally be able to stand up on that Amphitheatre in it's full glory. I dropped 250ugs if ald-52 in the Parking lot smoked a huge bowl of pre-98 bubba kush and i was tripping face by the time I'm walked in. Big mistake haha. I kept thinking that everybody was trying to steal my cell phone light bag or my wallet anytime somebody bumped into me I kept thinking they were trying to pick my pockets for some reason I always think people are trying to steal my s*** always. Me to just let go of my surroundings is really hard, almost impossible. I know nobody really wants my shit but again i was 3k miles from home and didn't want to get uddery fucked in Denver.
I feel you man when I was younger I was so much more Carefree in my Approach and that it's become a lot harder to do which is basically limiting my intake of fun period if that makes since. Lsd+ weed turns me into paranoid peet.
 
Definitely seem to be getting more serious for me. Perhaps because I have been focusing more on LSD and variants of late rather than tryptamines and phenethylamines.

Possibly an age thing for me. As I've grown into my forties I suspect the younger feelings of invincibility have faded and the probability of bad health increases (albeit still very low of course!).

It's not a bad thing though; I had a 2C-E trip last month which was pretty recreational. Also, lower doses can do the job. Half a tab of some strong cid I currently have gives a nice recreational ride.
 
Solo tripping is deceptive, and tricks you into thinking you are WAY less impaired than you think. Go out into the community and try to talk with someone while on 4 or 500 mics and let me know how you do. Stringing together language that makes sense become REALLY hard. I think that the setting can make all the difference in the world. Confined to the inside spaces of your dwelling is so mundane and you are so used to it, that it lost novelty long ago. Now, do something novel, like go to a show or out with friends, and your experience can have a much greater impact on your psyche.
 
^^ Agreed that change in set/setting leads to increased novelty. Most of my deepest trips were inside by myself, but that's because they were my early trips too largely I think. If you've never or rarely tripped at home alone with music and eyes closed, there will be tons of novelty and it will probably seem more intense than whatever style of tripping you're used to.

Actually it's been years since I've tripped at home alone, because that was the only way I did it for quite a few years. It's probably about time for one of those. :)
 
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