Coming up to my mid 30s despite living in a large city I have realised Im bit of a recluse, and despite a well paid job and lots of free time have very few friends! loosing many over the years to alcohol, suicide, distance and parenting, as well as currently having a partner that simply isn't open to taking psychedelics!

It seems so difficult to meet like minded people in real life as there is not a "Nexian" gang sign and I probably wouldn't get away with wearing a shpongle hoodie!
so I really want to know:

1) How did you meet your trip buddy(s)? and/or pro-psychedelic partner?

2) If you were psychedelic users before meeting how did you get that into conversation?

3) Any bad experiences where you really misjudged the situation or person?


(please remember not to give away identifying info)

1) My only trip buddies were when I was around 20/21. As most young adults out of highschool for a few years do, many start to meander off in their own direction with their lives. Not always the case but was for me. Plus I soon realized that these few people just weren't as interested in them as I was and our experiences seemed to not coincide too much. No issues though. Life happened.

2) In my case we weren't, we all sort've stumbled on them at the same time, and from there on we went.

3) Yup, there were a few, notably the time I grew my own mushrooms, me and a friend had taken them out on several acres of land at nighttime. Had a fire, moonlight, the whole bit, it was an incredibly beautiful night and profound experience (for me mostly). Long story short, after we'd both ate around 2.5g (much of the total weight were tiny aborts with a few typically sized mushrooms), we're sitting by the fire and after a little while I noticed the level of dreaminess and onset intensity was pretty overwhelming, things really started to ramp up. Being that I could barely move, I happened to look over at my friend for a brief moment and him already looking back at me, says: "Take me home, ...you're trying to kill me!? What are you up to?! What is this!? I want to go home!.

This immediately snapped me out've the intense buildup of the experience, brought me right back to consensus reality very quickly. I assured him that the level of intensity and depth was hitting me just as hard, and it was very otherwordly and very strong. I tried to convey this, but for w/e reason he wasn't buying it. Thankfully he never ended up trying to leave or do anything foolish.

Though shortly after that he got up, walked to the front of the property, following him and watching as he plopped down in the grass and started rolling around , saying that he was trying to get back to his body, saying it was too much. So I ended up sitting down by him just lying there. He did that whole bit for about a half hour or so then finally relaxed. We eventually made it back to our seats out by the fire. All in all it was too much for him it seemed. I get it though, mushrooms honestly scare the shit out've me haha. Alot of respect for the mushrooms.

My ex-gf met me right around the time I discovered dmt, ayahuasca, cacti. Nearly every experience I've had with these things once I'd found them - she was right there with me. Same dosages, same everything, she always wanted the same as I was doing. She's an incredible person. Consequently these experiences brought us closer in the end after our breakup. We're closer now than we were then. She's my best friend now. Was a blessing in disguise I feel. Fortunate to have crossed paths with her, no question. She gets it, no doubt there.

Thanks so much for the reply Tatt,
like you my trip buddies were all around my early 20s i dont really remember meeting them we just all seemed to appear in the same park with nothing else to do and life certainly happened to most of them, i can only think of one i still vaguely talk to mostly online

that is a great mushroom story i had one inexperienced friend freak out on eddibles to the point of demanding an ambulance! we of course told him it was coming (never called) then moved rooms and calmed him down with some chilled music but im certain that was alot less intense than a full blown mushroom freakout


and wow your ex gf/best friend sounds awesome i think thats my biggest regret with psychedelics not having had someone constant to share the entire experience with! my previous trip buddies seemed to each have their preferred speciality and weakness

Met my love at the methadone clinic. Now we have two kids together. She has been very supportive of my work with the spice but has not partaken herself. Someday when the kids are older, she says.

damn Tony6 thats a pretty heavy place to meet!
im so glad it all worked out for the both of you!

It's simple, just live in an area where the use of psychedelics is pretty much just accepted. I'm fortunate to live in San Francisco where literally all of my friends are trip buddies. Live in or near an area like that (SF, Denver, Barcelona, Seattle, etc) and you won't have any problems finding trip buds.

I don't fit into the topic very well, more than to say that though I'd love to have a friend, and bettery yet if that friend was a tripper, I am quite glad to trip alone, and never feel like I am missing something hehe. Most of the times in fact I say "Thank god no ones here to see me." You know the weird faces you can make on dmt...they'd scare muggles

I'm an old man, my tripping started about 50 years ago, when I'm a kid, LSD found me, and I hung with friends who tripped.

Then I went several years with no tripping whatsoever, I left the old hometown and folk, and joined the business world and being an adult and all, there was no opportunity and no availability.

And then out of the blue, LSD finds me again (Yay!!!), my first wife's teenage nephew thinks it is cool that his old uncle wants to indulge....

Then in the last what, 10 years? mushrooms find me, by way of a river buddy. And some of his tripping 'family'. And it is with them that the DMT hunts me down and kidnaps me.
So these days, if I'm not exploring the outer realms by myself, I'm with that small group, they sometimes have special occasions they generously invite me to join. The most recent of these, I was introduced to the special K. All I can say to that is "I was unprepared". Well, that and "I know nothing". What a remarkable experience.

I'm answering these questions as much to myself as I am to the OP - you've made me ask myself. I'm not terribly outgoing, I generally keep to myself, I never really went looking, over the decades, and yet these substances still seek me out.

I guess I'm just lucky that way...?

loving the reply's! really was not sure if it was a subject that would interest others or not!
its very reassuring to me to hear that so many of my fellow nexians are introverted in a similar way to myself!

Paulsage your really lucky! im sure there are a huge amount of trip heads in my city maybe im just not looking in the right places! but as medical weed has not even been made legal here yet psychedelics are still not really openly talked about, coke on the other hand is everywhere

FranLover This is why I made this topic hopefully we will attract stories that inspire and guide both of us and people like us to get more social, despite whatever is holding us back and find our own little community's of trip friends so we can all pull silly faces together

Sunnyside Wow your post is really encouraging! while people of my age generally seem to be settling down its easy to forget that mid 30s is still young enough to have another 20+ years of tripping and meeting new people and even new substances!
I hope that in my future im as lucky as you have been and that you continue to have great experiences!

There are a few places that you can look to find trippy people. With any avenue, you can find people and you can come up empty handed. BUT, if I was trying to look for fellow travelers to meet here is what I would do:

Look for venues in and around your town that have live music, camping, and aren't too expensive. I can't promise you anything, but a lot of people like to trip in these kind of places, and you just might stumble upon a place where people will be openly taking psychedelics. Feel it out and mingle. Psychedelic social communities exist but you probably can't find them on Google. I find that blue collar environments tend to be louder about psychedelic use than white collar environments.

Meet people who smoke cannabis or talk with your friends who you already know like to smoke weed. Mention mushrooms or something in some kind of organic conversation and see if they have much of a reaction or if that reaction is positive.

Travel! Look up psychedelic conferences happening this year and see if you can make it out to one. I've never been, but that would be an excellent place to find people to have intelligent conversations with.

1. Everyone I know who I trip with or could potentially trip with is a person that I met when I was going through 'coming of age' periods in life. I'm 26 now and I finished school when I was 22, but all of those people are people who I knew from college or high school. Other than that, it's random people that I meet at shows where I'm going to trip and that I'm never going to see again.

2. I was curious about LSD and just asked my friend if he wanted to try it with me. He said yes.

3. Most people who use psychedelics don't really care to become familiar with all the technical knowledge behind it, and this is especially true with DMT. A lot of the times that I've almost shared it with people, I feel like I really did my best to explain some basic information that they would need to know, but they just got more confused and really wanted me to definitively tell them what's going to happen. I try to explain why that's impossible and people shrink away a bit. Everyone who has ever said to me that they want to try it has ended up not trying it when I come back and say "Okay here we go, I got it." I would guess I have offered it to 15 psychedelic users so far, both strangers and friends. Every single time the person is a little shocked or excited that it would be possible for them to try it, and every single time they don't. Weird.

It seems like you have just recently jumped into the psychedelic world and you just want people to relate to. It can take some time to develop those connections and friendships, it's just how it is. But if you're looking for people who resemble people on the Nexus, I would say good luck. The best places to have intelligent conversations about experimentation with calculated, clever, individuals is right here. The conversations that transpire on this website about drugs are typically not conversations that in my experience, fellow social people are interested in having.

I can totally relate to the "Thank god no one is here to see me" point Especially with ayahuasca. In fact, I would probably never do aya in front of somebody But tripping out and looking ridiculous with people can be super fun. Then you get to have the "Thank god no one is here to see US" moments and you become closer with those people Those moments pleasantly remind me that I'm not so weird or different after all.

With Vibesurfer's comprehensive guide you'll be having trip buddies in no time! xD That list is spot on.

I am not introverted, but I speak for myself when I say that my substance use is directly corelated to my lonleyness. I dont feel lonley, but the fact is I am an island with no relationships. And I started using substances to fill that void as a kid, people need people u know...so now in many ways DMT is part of the same cycle, a way for me to have an experience given my circumstances; so I can smoke changa and be with Aya, or encounter a beautiful jester being who loves me...and so on. If I had good relationships I probably would have never had the need for psychedelics, and thus never have found them.

lol yeah vibesurfer. Anyone in hyperspace wont be able to control the zany smile. I think research must be done. For me these facial gestures cant be possible sober. Its like more muscles are working on the face. Generally its an expression of "I know something the world doesnt" which looks perverse, zany. Its great. Its weird!

Wow I can relate a lot to that first paragraph. I don't think I'm introverted at all either, but I have been alone for a long time now, and I don't feel lonely either. It's weird that loneliness and happiness can often occupy the same space. I have plenty of wonderful friends, an amazing family, and social circles but since I live alone, I can retreat from all of it and be a recluse for as long as I want and usually people don't notice. The more I experiment with psychedelics, the more I find I am rewarded with happiness and understanding, but it always leaves me farther away from the rest of the world's wavelength. I've come to accept the fact that I'm going to trip my existence off, have profound experiences, fly through all the universes faster than the speed of light, and then if someone hits me up 2 seconds after I get sucked back into my physical body because they want to hang out, well I guess I'm going to just go have a beer with them and talk sports despite the fact that I just jumped into worlds they will never know. I've got plenty of people, but zero I can talk to about this crazy ride that is a relationship with DMT.

Sometimes you're on an island, smoke some DMT, and you've got a brand new island but you've made no progress towards leaving

I do not look the part but would be so tickled to meet another Nexian IRL. I want to think that maybe the site's motto could be made into a secretive phrase, like a conversational, psychedelic ichthys:

Vibesurfer
Some really good points your right if im serious about meeting other trippers I should really be going to the obvious places!
It also had not occurred to me that most people would not get infatuated with the technical side!
Did you ever offer the sub breakthrough 10-20mg doses for me i was scared to take a breakthrough dose untill id done a bunch of low doses.. still was not prepared but felt more confident going in

I probably seem fresh and excited as dmt has only really entered my life in the last year and has really washed away my programming, but have been tripping since I was 15 when I made friends with a whole sheet of lsd that had a field of sunflowers printed on it! (not all at once)
up until 22 i was the person everyone went to, to be put in contact with whatever substance they needed this made me very popular but as my contacts dried up so did my interest in social life

From there I spent 12 years in the financial sector where I was programmed to be very cold, calculated and emotionless to analyse every interaction for motive, benefit and profit (whats their motive, whats in it for me etc) this paid off hugely but carried over to my now non existent social life .

However DMT has changed me in the last year it feels as tho it has washed away alot of my financial programming and while I can still switch into that mode, it has left me far more open to experiencing other people and long forgotten emotions rather than pre assessing people for motive! more importantly it has shown me that there can still be more adventures, life isnt as cut and dry as id begun to believe!
which brings me back to why I started this thread to discover how others met their adventure buddy and get some clue where to start


FranLovers
I have confidence and never feel lonely, your term of being an island is very attractive to me and a far better term than introverted which might imply a social awkwardness rather than a lack of social interest.
I had actually considered for many years dropping my life and moving to somewhere far more remote with only cats for company.. then met the dmt


Stringiform
I like that idea! feels kind of like a secret agent meeting a contact

Crispycat, I kind of missed the entire point.
I believe you are asking how you, personally, might encounter, shall we say "like-minded persons"?
My response was about me and my interactions, in general.
Sorry.

So, I would offer a comment or two.

And in case it is TOO LONG / DON'T READ -
Uh oh, the old man in the corner is ranting again, don't make eye-contact.



Like the Surfer Dude lays out,it seems to me that it is all about relationships.
From my simple-minded perspective, as opposed to seeking out folks who already know the secret handshake, one might merely continue to build healthy and strong relationships.
But, you say, I think, that you have a non-existent social life, so you do have some work ahead, it would seem.

So, how to work relationships...

Family and friends, obviously.
Work-mates.
Social contacts.
Maybe groups which involve active participation.
Aside from festivals, activities where you actually do something, and interact with others.
Culinary school.
A volunteer group.
Mountain biking. You may start alone, but you meet people.
Enroll in a language class. You meet people, and you work your brain.
Go to a culinary school.
Yoga. Work your body. Work your mind. Meet interesting people.
Buy a Peterson's Field Guide, interesting conversations can arise when identifying a bird.
Maybe enroll in a culinary school, meet some chefs...

I don't know why, but people do, in real life, ask me about things. And just like I've mentioned things to you, above, I always add -
"But you will come up with your own answers, much better than mine".

My point is, work hard on having relationships, and orbits of friends, it may surprise you how you find 'adventurous' people. You know, the ones who know the secret handshake. The more relationships you have, the higher the odds, right?

Ayahuasca ceremonies. It takes funds, but if you feel the call to get involved e.g. as a helper, new opportunities arise. I think Ayahuasca is unique in that respect as it's partaken of more commonly in group ceremonies than any other entheogen.

There are also psychedelic societies / clubs etc. in major cities, which organize or hold legal events (talks, film screenings).

Any spiritual events can work. Yoga, meditation, sound healing, ecstatic dance, kirtans, satsangs...

Sunnyside
far from it! I really enjoyed your post! and was trying to avoid looking at the subject on a personal level but I have lost my way in excited reply's
it is the pure experiences that I really find most interesting , yes my agenda is ultimately to work out how myself the suit with no social life can find like minded people, and that for me may not be at the river or as Tony6 said at a methadone clinic, but someone else reading this may be inspired from those experiences or may even reconnect with an ex as Tatt has

I feel you answer the question at personal level perfectly in your last sentence
"The more relationships you have, the higher the odds"
this should really be the lonely mans mantra and would blanket cover all the activity's that may be accessible to myself or someone else looking for the same experience! not to de-value the lists there have certainly been a few valuable and on point things i had not thought of and would certainly enjoy!

Im going to look into language class and see if i can find some physical classes for digital and technical drawing, dmt has certainly opened my creative side and looking at the pieces Salviadroid and Incedigris have made is really inspiring!
Ive also managed to contact an old friend from before I went "cold" who wasnt there just for my contacts.. not sure how that will work out but will be a good starting point certainly easier than walking up to a stranger and telling them their my friend now


Jagube
I would love to do some real ceremonies although i find that far more intimidating than vaping freebase!
im not sure how much i buy into the spiritual side but it makes alot of sense that the more open crowd would levitate towards the more spiritual practices if i can find something near I should at least give it a chance!

I gotcha. That makes a lot of sense. I have started to feel the working world start to do it's worst on me, and I'm really glad to have psychedelics on my side through this journey of life. I feel the struggle of being profit and efficiency driven on behalf of the company you're working for because that's just how we have to survive and make money ourselves and advance in careers. But I find that if I'm not careful those forces start to work on me subconsciously and all my social and human sides start to fade. DMT keeps me a better human while I take care of business, that's for sure.

I totally agree, always more adventures.