I remember experiencing the world much more vividly when I was a little boy.
I would step outside on an autumn evening and feel joy as the cool breeze rustled the leaves and caressed my skin. In the summers, I would listen to the orchestra of insects buzzing around me. I would waddle out of the cold swimming pool and the most wonderful shiver would cascade out of me as I peed in the bathroom. In the winters, I would get mesmerized by the simple sound of my boots crunching the snow under me.
These were not experiences that I actively sought out. They just happened. I did not need to stop to smell the figurative roses, the roses themselves would stop me in my tracks.
As I got older, I started feeling less and less and thinking more and more.
I’ve tried meditation, recreation, vacation, resignation, and medication. Some of these things have helped but I am still left wondering… is this a side effect of getting older? Or is there something wrong with me?
100% there are ways to do it to be more beneficial for your mental state. Set and setting. Breathing exercises and what not also helped me refocus my mindset to what the trip was about. It also doesn’t end just cuz the trip does. You can spend the next few days or weekish sorting through your thoughts and feelings about life, your experiences, your current place in that journey, and the direction you would like to travel in. I wouldn’t want to do multi day trips, but I know micro-dosing works for some people.
I differently treated it differently than when I was experimenting with other drugs in high school.