Photo courtesy of Owen Allen
The other day I tried “magic mushrooms” for the first time. And I’m not sure what all the fuss is about.
To paint a picture for you, I have never tried smoking a cigarette, never smoked a joint and do not care for taking drugs unless you consider ingesting the legal kind, like alcohol. That is my drug of choice. I’m not proud of it, but I drink wine and champagne like I drink tea and coffee. And I’m not a binge drinker – I drink a glass of red at least every second day of the week and on occasion (depending on the occasion, I will drink a lot more than just one glass…)
Now, it is my choice not to dabble in recreational drugs. I feel great sober and I consider myself to be a very happy person without having to fake it with drugs. I’ve been offered a puff of a joint, a bong, some coke.. but I have always turned them down. I don’t enjoy the feeling of being out of control and especially when you hear the horror stories of drug abuse and how they tear apart families.. well you learn to say NO to drugs. However when I was offered those magic mushrooms, I thought I’d try one. I figured they were natural – as natural as picking a lemon off a lemon tree -and that’s how they were offered to me. A friend of a friend had picked them.
So there I was, munching on three dried mushrooms (including the stalks), underestimating how they would affect me. And boy oh boy did I underestimate the effects.
I was spinning out, losing all control and for a fairly straight person like myself, the only way I could describe the feelings I was going through is like you’re losing your mind. That’s what it felt like. What term do people use for it..? Oh yes, “tripping”
I was seeing octoganal colours spinning round and round and everything around me looked like a cartoon reality. Like everyone was in an animation film but not the Disney kind, but more like a manga cartoon. Bright colours looked like they were popping and the dark colours blended in – but that’s the best way of describing it – like everything was in a cartoon world. I remember thinking if I would ever snap out of it and I remember thinking that I had no control and I would forever be stuck in this alternate universe, unable to get back to the real world.
When I woke up the next day, I didn’t have a hangover but I remembered the experience like it was as clear as a flawless blue sky. The experience was like living a bad dream. I woke up vowing NEVER to try those magic mushrooms again.
I much prefer my real world, being aware and in control of my emotions. My feelings. My thoughts. One day, I might lose that mind control through suffering illnesses like amnesia or alzheimers. So why would I want to speed up the journey? I’m not in a hurry to get there at all. So my advice is, best leave those mushrooms alone.
They’re mind-altering. And not in a good way.
