Drugs are probably the first thing on the list that get old fast.

Even things I really love, like eating authentic food from different countries, while highly enjoyable, isn't shocking or new the way it was when I first had exposure to different food in general.

It's also interesting and exciting to continue to get better at things I love (programming, hobbies...).

Is there stuff I don't know/haven't experienced? Sure. But it's been a few years since the last time I encountered something truly mind-blowing or perspective-changing. Maybe I'll try mushrooms some day.

It's just a function of the internet really, most things that once upon a time seemed like exotic, alternate paths have been de-mystified. For example, after seeing how kung-fu holds up against MMA and BJJ, I no longer have the perception of kung-fu masters as great, master fighters.

Similarly, turns out the classical Spartans arguably weren't nearly as elite as their common reputation. They were just one of the few Greek factions that bothered to regularly train at all, and that often put them over the top.

The information required to formulate both points with any support is only possible because of the internet, where in previous years a historical lay-person like myself would likely have to spend months in the library in dedicated historical studies to arrive at the same conclusions.

The more I look at the world, the more I think the Taoists got it right. "The Great Path is simple and direct yet people love to take the side-routes"

MMA is a joke.

While travelling does show me stuff I haven't seen, that doesn't mean it significantly alters what I thought about the place I'm visiting. Or the world in the larger sense. Sometimes there's a slight surprise in how I expected things to be vs how they are, but those tend to be degrees of difference rather than requiring a large revision.

Art, it's such a huge field. I try to get a context when I see something, but I haven't spent my time learning a lot about art history. But generally I'm not surprised when I see some work of art.

One thing to think about is whether being able to fit everything nicely is itself a symptom of a problem. Hard to know.

It's one of those things you try because people around you are trying. But basically, I felt nothing from smoking joints or mushrooms. I had one fun experience once in Amsterdam with some hash cookies, but could I live without it? Yeah.

I feel much the same about alcohol. That at least has a common cultural set of expectations, but at the same time, I didn't think it really changed much about what I thought about the world.

It's quite common not to have any effect from the first few times one tries smoking marijuana. Eventually, the body seems to "learn" how to appreciate the high.

As for mushrooms, if you felt nothing from them I wonder if: 1 - your dose was too low, or 2 - the mushrooms you had weren't psychoactive.

Believe me, if you've tried a high dose of a real psychedelic drug, it would be a very intense experience (assuming you remembered it, as some people do have amnesia from too high a dose of psychedelics, possibly because the experience is too intense for their conscious mind to assimilate).

What I meant was the experience did not really add much to how I thought about the world. I didn't have particularly meaningful conversations with anyone during that time. It didn't add perspective, which is kinda what I thought would happen.

It should be kept in mind, however, is that people's sensitivity to various drugs varies. So what might be a weak dose to one person might be a strong dose to another.

Those are the lightweights, largely because they are also manufactured experiences:

- Traveling: Whoa, in that other country, people are speaking a different language, have different customs, and have different values? Who could have known!

- Art: Sure, art can evoke some feelings, but rarely is it earthshattering

- Drugs: Okay, that I don't know - and don't care for

The bigger things are other life events, like change in relationships, change in worklife, moving places, friends and family getting ill or worse. Sure, those will never be easy, but the more you go through them the better you know that "this too shall pass" and how to deal with it.