Mushrooms saved my life, or as I prefer to say it, I saved my life with Mushrooms.
I had always been, "up and down" and I was diagnosed ADHD as a kid but was never medicated for it. I've gotten Major Depressive Diagnosis as an adult. They refused to entertain a ASD one as I was, and am still thinking, could be relevant. I had a lot of respect for the field of Psychology but that has dwindled as I realized it's business and politics like everything else. I worked in a mental health adjacent field as I had wanted to become an MFT. I learned that the person who I really needed to heal was myself. The time I spent working overnight in group homes took me to the brink of my sanity.
I was against drugs, alcohol, and tobacco product in an a serious way. I stuck to these principles like a religion. While I still abstain from the later, I now am a daily cannabis consumer, and I have used Psychedelic mushrooms. They took the deepest depression I've ever experienced and made me feel all the joy I had missed out on in that time, at once. It was a profound and deep experience akin to an encounter with GOD. I had to struggle through "bad trips" which I like to call "challenging experiences" because that self confrontation is exactly what I'm looking for.
This is not an informational guide on mushrooms or a trip report. But merely a declaration that the lessons I learned on Psychedelic drugs, are the reason I am here today. Life saving medicines are here under our noses, classified as schedule 1 drugs with no medical value. Things are seeming to change, but slowly. I hope the paths for recreational use open up faster than the medically approved routes, because modern medicine has failed us in this regard. Too little too late on the regulation and study of the medicines people around the world have been using for thousands of years.
Respect the power of these of these medicines. I do legitimately consider these spiritual tools as I was able to grow in ways I couldn't even perceive before. The place I was hurt was spiritually. despite not being a religious person, I have come to understand the world in a way that I equate to spirituality. I concern myself more with how well I live my life, than "being right" as I used to. I came to see the wisdom and clarity that came with having clearly defined principles. Ideals you hold higher than yourself. These ideals are unchanged by your moment to moment emotional whims. And as such can be a reliable guide when our ability to critically think is being compromised by high emotion.
As a result of that I was able to solve, or work to better understand my problems, see my role in them, and change through deliberate action and effort over time. As you can see I am not "fixed", and this process isn't necessarily easy. You iterate on this process and get closer and closer to happiness as you discover what works for you. You create your own curriculum and learn from an active process of engaging the brain in learning tasks. Run from anything "easy", run from shortcuts and anyone selling you anything.
Mushrooms taught me that my own brain is the tool I need to sharpen. It is the only tool that can sharpen itself, and the only person you control is you... so get started.