Writing this as I am pretty much sobered up from my solo 2g golden teacher trip. Solid experience! This is my third time taking mushrooms. I have previously taken 1.5g and 1.8g. Both prior experiences I had a pretty shitty amount of anxiety and the vibes weren't great but overall the trip was decent.

My intentions of the trip were to be introspective, let the mushroom show me what I need to see, and confront my anxiety in daily life. I was pretty sure it was going to be a very inward time.

• 9:15pm -> Grinded my shrooms into a pretty fine powder. Mixed with 180 degree (F) water and steeped for 20 min. Strained and consumed.
• 9:30pm -> Finished the tea, laid out comfy clothes, got in the shower
• 9:45 -> Shower complete; had a fat wave of anxiety come over me in the shower but was all good in a few mins. Just had to let it pass.
• 10:00 -> After the shower I hopped on discord with my friends and played some Rocket League. Was definitely feeling some come up anxiety but felt grounded by my friends. Rocket League is wild on shrooms holy cow. I went downstairs for a bit when I was feeling uncomfortable and I talked to my dad. It helped ease the anxiety a ton, even though it was a bit challenging to talk to him at first as our relationship has been a bit rocky in the past. It felt good that I told him prior that I was taking shrooms so I didn't have to hide it.
  
• 10:15 -> There are moving tribal patterns in my counter top. Went back upstairs to discord. I was laughing my ass off with my friends nonstop and playing games, listening to the playlist I made.
• I wrote in my notebook "The more expectations you set, the more anxious you get". I kind of had the intention to be really introspective and solve my life's problems, but the shrooms wanted me to just enjoy the mundane moments, play my games, listen to my music, and have fun. Once I let go of the idea that the trip had to be about introspection, the come up anxiety was done.
• 10:35 -> Time moving extremely slowly, vibes change super quickly based on song, tones of voices, etc... in general I could tell I was just super sensitive to the environment at this time. Not 100% comfortable / settled in yet. Stomach ache / chest anxiety feeling.

And then we were good!

• From 10:35 til about 1:30am I was playing games with my friends, chatting in discord, snacking, listening to music. Music sounded awesome and it was a huge factor to keeping my spirits up. Games were really fun I was laughing my ass off the entire time and felt so good. Visuals were pretty strong, specifically when I went to the bathroom, my bathroom tiles were moving like flowing water or like an ultrasound. And then I saw faces in the tiles, and then they morphed into some crazy geometric patterns. Overall just a fantastic time when I wasn't trying to force introspection... this was the peak.

• At 1:30am, smoked some weed (I smoke daily), which felt awesome. Like a warm hug. Then went outside and stargazed a little with my binoculars. At this point I wasn't really feeling it much anymore except an overall relaxed and happy feeling, but the sky was gorgeous even though I live in a light polluted area. I saw the Moon, Jupiter, Mars, Pleiades, and a couple constellations that I like.

It sounds kind of lame in text but it was a really awesome time and exactly what I needed after two not so great experiences with shrooms my first two times. Perfect dose, great set and setting. Not underwhelming but not overwhelming. After reflecting I can definitely take away some great insights even though it wasn't necessarily super introspective too.

My main takeaway from this trip:

• Enjoy the mundane moments. Enjoy friends. Simple stuff that you do all the time like chatting, gaming, and listening to music is what makes life. It's not always about improving or fixing or the next thing you're doing or what you could be doing better, it's about THIS moment and experiencing it to the fullest.

• I love my girlfriend a lot and she's a bundle of caring, nurturing, selfless, unconditional love.

• I can trust the mushroom, but I am still skeptical about solo trips above 2g... I handled the come up anxiety well but there's always a looming feeling that something is bothering me and I can't quite put a finger on it. I feel like I really enjoy the last hours of the trip, where I can interpret my experience and reflect, more than the peak itself.