I’ve probably tripped around 20 times throughout my life. I did it mostly because I bought into the idea that psychedelics would improve my life and habits in some way. I don’t believe that anymore, and I don’t think psychs really changed my life at all except it gave me lots of cool memories. I kind of feel some level of nostalgia for that reality-bending feeling of being on psychs, even though the last time I took it was only a couple months ago. It’s just so different from everyday experience.
I completely agree with your sentiment: I was totally invested in psychedelics as a tool for psychological healing, and while they do have therapeutic benefits, recreational use is not how one achieves that and sometimes leads to people believing some really irrational things about the world amongst other side effects. I tripped at least 16 times in 2020, but I kinda lost count, and while at the time it felt like I was making breakthroughs and gaining insight, those returns diminished quickly and i was left with strong feelings of depersonalization/derealization/dissociation after stopping which made the issues I thought I had been working on so much worse. I’m still glad I had the experience of tripping as I did have some beautiful times on acid but be careful doing that stuff