The opinions in this article do not reflect the views of Her Campus at VCU.
I grew up in a household that was very straight edge. In fact, my parents still do not drink to this day. However, I’ve always been interested in the taboo. In high school, I started to smoke weed and drink, as many teenagers do. My mom caught onto this, and then I stopped in order to avoid death. Once I got to college, I began smoking again, but I also began trying new things. When I say new things, they’re not as crazy as you think—they’re just psychedelics. I was going through a really rough period in my life when I just tried this out, and honestly, I believe it helped me a lot.
The first psychedelic I tried was shrooms. I had just woken up in the morning and went to the living area where I saw my old roommate, who then decided to offer me some. As someone who really did not care at the time, I agreed. I was extremely scared while I was waiting for it to hit, but then I started to see the most beautiful shapes and colors. It honestly was an amazing experience. I cried a lot for the first couple of hours, and I cannot tell you why. Little by little, I uncovered the root of what was making me feel this way and created a plan for my sober self to combat this. After my crying session was over, a thunderstorm had hit and it overwhelmed me a lot. While I can say with confidence that my trip was a little scary towards the end, I do not regret doing it.
A couple of months later, I decided to try LSD or acid for the first time. I can’t say it was as good as the shrooms were, but I would do it again at a higher dosage. The colors were nice to look at, and everything felt nice. However, I did not get the same feeling that I received with shrooms. In conclusion, I can only describe shrooms as an introspective experience and LSD as outrospective. The entire experience with shrooms, I was concerned with my own mental state. Meanwhile, with acid, I saw myself picking up patterns and details about those around me.
If you are reading this article because you are considering doing psychedelics, please make sure you test the items before you ingest them. This is just a safety precaution because you never know what things can be in something not regulated by the government. Moreover, I highly recommend doing this alone or with a friend you trust to babysit you. I have noticed when I take psychedelics; it causes me to get easily overwhelmed in groups of people. In addition, it can be a little frustrating to talk to someone sober who cannot comprehend what you are talking about. Another key takeaway from my experience is to hydrate yourself. It is so hard to eat and drink while on shrooms or acid, but it could hurt you in the long run. Remember to be safe and do your research if you are considering trying psychedelics.