Psychedelics are like money
Though they would resent the comparison
Imagine finding a $100 bill on the ground. You have two basic choices:
Spend it.
Invest it.
Essentially, you can either use it and feel good immediately or defer gratification and let compound interest increase its impact. The concept of investment vs. immediate gratification applies to psychedelics as well, though we don't often think of it that way.
Just like you can choose to spend that $100 immediately or invest it for future growth, you can approach psychedelic experiences similarly. You can prioritize immediate enjoyment or focus on cultivating long-term personal and emotional growth.
That doesn’t mean one approach is “right” — spending money is great, and necessary — it just means reframing our choices and being intentional.
The power of compounding
If you put that $100 into the stock market and leave it alone for 30 years, it will likely turn into about $700 (adjusted for inflation). In other words, it will be able to buy about seven times as much stuff in 30 years as it can now.
If you’re a finance dork like me, seeing a graph like this is helpful for understanding how compound interest works — slowly at first, then quickly.
Unfortunately, there’s no graph showing how much payoff you’ll get from “investing” in your own growth and healing. And, unlike money, we’re each going to have a totally different experience over time.
But you can still picture the potential benefits.
Try this: What are a few of your own behavioral or emotional patterns that, if you could snap your fingers and change, you would? Here are some of my greatest hits:
Compulsive consumption (food, media, etc).
Fear of intimacy.
Impatience.
Self-sabotage.
Now imagine how your life would be different if you managed to overcome some of those patterns. How would your relationships change ? How would your day-to-day sense of wellbeing change? You can’t know for sure, but you can imagine what it might be like.
Now imagine what would change with those downstream effects. If your relationships were stronger, what would it change? If your stress was lower, what would that change?
That’s the power of compounding. Small changes or improvements today have knock-on effects that, themselves, have knock-on effects, and so on.
I’m not saying that psychedelics will fix all your problems. They won’t. But using them as tools to address some of your biggest challenges now can have huge effects later.
That said, it’s also OK to have fun.
The middle way
Here’s something people who are “serious” about psychedelic work don’t often acknowledge: These substances can be a fucking blast.
The vast majority of my experience with psychedelics has been recreational. I’ve laughed my hardest laughs and hugged my best hugs on them. Plus, many of my most impactful insights came during trips that were intended to be recreational.
Money isn’t so simple, either. I sold all of my Nvidia and Tesla stock in 2018 (yes, ouch) to buy a very fun camper van. If I had held onto the stock, it would be worth about 20x as much today. Do I regret losing out on all that money? Well, yes, obviously. But I’m also aware how my years in that van changed the entire direction of my life — and how having a few extra tens of thousands of dollars can’t replace that experience.
That’s all to say that it’s complicated. People who save all their money and never spend it aren’t being smart — they’re being greedy. And people who obsess over self improvement without letting themselves have fun aren’t actually improving their lives.
And our lives follow seasons. Someone in their early 20s isn’t going to be as interested in saving for retirement or using mushrooms to work out their anger issues as someone in their 40s. That’s OK.
What matters is intent. If you’re trying to have fun, set yourself up to have fun. If you’re trying to get over your anger issues, don’t take mushrooms at a concert and expect to be fixed. Find a guide. Take it seriously. Invest.
fun good!