While I find psychedelic drugs like shrooms highly fascinating and have talked a lot about them with the few friends who've taken them I wouldn't take them personally.
It's not that I'd say they are bad per se... it's just too much fear about having a bad trip. While certainly many drugs are physically much more dangerous and can even be life threatening, for me the idea of being stuck in a psychedelic bad trip for something that can feel like days seems much more frightening than waking up in the hospital and being reminded of the potential side effects.
The leading cause of bad trips is simply the fear of having a bad trip. With practice you can steer your own thoughts away from the negative any time you feel it happening.
Are you able to control it anytime you feel like having a bad trip now?
Or do you ocasionally still have those? It's fascinating how important the right mindset is and still so so frightening to think about it.
And if you don't mind the offtopic... I've just seen your post about tripping underwater since you linked it up there.
Growing up with scuba diving I kind of envy you for the dive with a real helmet you can breathe in as if you'd be on the surface. (Even though I actually like the direct contact with the water)
Were you doing this alone or did you have someone with you who checked on you occasionally? Doesn't it feel a little distant with the helmet if you're doing it often? Where did you have your greatest dive? (apart form the ones on drugs) :D
Sorry if you answered any of those questions before or don't want to answer one of them. I'm just getting really curious.
I had a cousin watching the compressor. There is no such thing as safe solo helmet diving, you always need a buddy.
The Puget Sound. I got up close to a wolf eel, outside of its burrow just swimming freely. That's a rare thing to witness, as I later found out.
Of course you're absolutely right and even without a helmet I wouldn't go scuba diving somewhere without at least somebody near who might be able to help if anything goes wrong.
But then... you were tripping with a self-build helmet underwater! Who knows really how important safety was for you at that moment? But I must say, you really have a chill cousin supporting you with that idea :D
I haven't dived for way too long... gonna finish my studies soon and afterwards I'll hopefully be diving again. Just seeing the pictures of the wolf eel makes me wanna get my equipment and jump into the next lake already..