I started my microdosing journey on November 1st 2020 with an open mind. Prior to starting, I had researched all about it. I was hoping to improve my anxiety and depression and reduce the frequency of migraines. I wanted to increase my creativity and energy levels as well. It is so helpful to journal your journey because you can keep track of any side effects, how/if the dose effects you, and any inner work that may come up. I was also using microdosing together with shadow work to heal from my traumas. It was important to me to journal my experience so that I could go back and reflect on my emotions at that time.
Choosing My Schedule
I decided to do the James Fadiman schedule for microdosing. I chose this schedule because it has considerably less microdoses for the month long regimen. His schedule is 1 day on, 2 days off. This will have you dosing every 3 days. My motto for any medicine (natural or not) is always start as low as possible. With the Fadiman schedule, I would have about 10 doses for the month.
Choosing the Right Dose
I started with 0.15g but ended up having to lower it as I still felt some mild effects from it. Everything felt vivid and vibrant. It felt similar to the onset of a macrodose, but it didn’t escalate to a more intense experience. For example, my body felt so relaxed, it was to the point of feeling “weak”. The mild effects only lasted for about 2 hours and then I felt normal again. After realizing the dose was a little too high, I changed all my microdoses to 0.10g. This was my sweet spot for dosing, as I didn’t feel any psychoactive effects anymore.
My Story of Healing
I’ve been through my fair share of things in my life. I was sexually molested at 12, in a volatile, abusive relationship, and addicted to drugs, all before my 18th birthday. It’s taken me a long time to really get into the true healing process and not just masking the pain with substances, relationships or distractions. I’ve found great success in doing inner child work and shadow work. You cannot heal it, if you don’t feel it. For more information on shadow work and it’s benefits, click here.
Dose Days
If you’re a parent, until you find the proper dose, always try your doses when you have someone to watch your child or children (even just your spouse), just in case you feel any effects.
On days that I dosed, I always tried to get out into nature as much as possible. If it was warm enough when I went for nature walks, I would walk bare foot in the forest floor. This is called earthing and comes with its own benefits. Some benefits include reduced inflammation and regulating your circadian rhythm. For more information on Earthing, please check out Science backed benefits of Earthing. I found that on my dose days, I felt a deeper connection to nature. It was amazing and that alone helped with my depression and anxiety.
Some of the days that I dosed, I had a migraine. I found that the microdose actually helped to allieviate some of the pain or take it away completely. In the month journey, I had about 8 days with migraines. As someone who has suffered from migraines since 13 years old, I’m used to dealing with them. Although, it doesn’t make it any less painful. I was glad to get some relief from my microdoses. I did experience some nausea when I dosed, but it was mild and went away fairly quickly.
Healing With Microdosing
Microdosing helped my depression and anxiety considerably. By the end of the regimen, It improved my mental state and I had less generalized and social anxiety. My general resting mood had improved as well. I had to process a lot of uncomfortable truths and change my mindset. It was painful at times. But growth is painful.
I have always struggled with keeping long term friends and during this microdosing journey, I lost my best friend of 12 years. We had been growing apart for years, but I wanted to talk things out and she did not. She did not want to talk to me about what was bothering her. She liked to avoid anything she perceived as confrontation, which isn’t healthy. So, after 3 weeks of being avoided, I told her that I was done. It was hard to deal with, but ultimately it was for the best. It had re-opened some old wounds but gave me the opportunity to finally heal from it. I was very grateful for that. I re-evaluated how I show up for people and tried to do better for the people who were still in my life.
Off Days
Even on my off days, I felt more present and like I was thinking in a different perspective. It boosted my mood, even when I hadn’t dosed. Which made me optimistic for the results at the end of the month. Some of the benefits I’m experiencing are from dealing with my traumas through shadow work. But, I believe that microdosing is a great tool to use when doing shadow work because it increases empathy. This helps you have more empathy for yourself during the healing process.
What I Learned From Microdosing
I’m realizing that the more I work on my own shadows and work through past traumas, the less things trigger me. You can look at a situation without needing something or someone else to complete you. I know that I can achieve happiness all by myself. The more I work on myself, the easier happiness comes to me. I also stopped telling myself the story of my traumas because when you keep telling the same story, you start to identify with that and continue to attract more of the same energy into your life. Once I started telling a story about healing those traumas and rising above what happened to me, I was able to break that thought pattern and attract new energy into my life for real changes.
I love that I can still feel the effects on my off days. I’m interested in seeing how long the effects last or how long until I’ll feel it’s necessary to microdose again. This experience has taught me how to shut off my ego and really let my inner child free. It reminded me to live fully in the present moment instead of the dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. Microdosing has showed me that although a spiritual journey can be lonely, in the end, you need to learn to be comfortable by yourself. I’ve learned to find peace in the solitude and isolation that this year brought my way.
The more you focus on the positives in your life, no matter how small they seem, it opens the door for more blessings to come in. Energy attracts like energy. The more you focus on your lack or the negative, the more of that comes into your life. I firmly believe this because I’ve seen it in action many times. So, try to focus on the positives in your life and watch more positive things show up.
What I’d Do Differently Next Time
I need to find a solution to the nausea that comes with microdosing psilocybin mushrooms. I was just drinking ginger tea but it wasn’t quite cutting it. I’ll do more research about this before my next regimen. I’m excited to try a different schedule. Although I did enjoy the Fadiman’s schedule, I’m going to try the Stamets schedule as well. I may also “stack” my doses with the Fadiman’s schedule next time.
