Anecdotally, I didn’t get severe anxiety and panic attacks until immediately after trying mushrooms. I didn’t even have a bad trip, but the next day something was off and I never truly recovered from that.
I agree with all you’ve said but with regards to writing a dissertation for larger changes : have you tried letting it first right a plan for you as markdown (just keep this file uncommitted) and then let it build a checklist of things to do?
I find just referencing this file over and over works wonders and it respects items that were already checked off really well.
I can get a lot done really fast this way in small enough chunks so i know every bit of code and how it works (tweaking manually of course where needed).
But I can blow through some tickets way faster than before this way.
I find if i eat an early breakfast, it is indeed hard to not eat after the 8 hours. I find the opposite to be quite easy though. Just skip breakfast and don’t eat until around 1. I get to look forward to food later while actually being hungry.
> It is not like water flowing in a direction guided by the terrain.
I understand it doesn’t seem intuitive at first, but evolution is actually quite similar to that.
> Trees produce thorns to keep away animals.
It's not that trees consciously produce thorns to keep animals away. Rather, trees with thorns (due to random mutations) are more likely to survive because they are less likely to be disturbed by animals. Over time, those trees are more likely to reproduce and pass on those traits.
Just like water flows down the path of least resistance, evolution naturally selects for traits that improve survival. The "selecting" we are referring to is used in the same sense that water "selects" which route it takes. It doesn't actually select anything, it's just following the laws of physics.