To deal with the negative effects of the pandemic, myself and several friends with children have been microdosing and discovered profoundly positive effects.

Over the past 16 months, parents have been under incredible stress trying to balance their lives by continuing to work during the worst pandemic of our lives, all while caring for their children in a lockdown situation where daycares and schools have often been closed and unavailable.

While parenting is never easy, it seems safe to say that parenting during the Covid-19 pandemic has been incredibly challenging for all, as parents have not been able to take breaks from their kids to recharge for well over a year. To deal with this, myself and several friends with children have been microdosing (“magic mushrooms”) and have discovered profoundly positive effects.

Is it safe? 

The first question I am always confronted with, and the first thing I initially considered, was: is microdosing safe while parenting? Microdosing involves taking a sub-perceptual dose of mushrooms to improve your life in a variety of ways. 

This means that microdosing a small amount of mushrooms, for example 100mg, does not in any way change ordinary day to day perception. I never, even remotely, felt high or that I was doing anything dangerous or irresponsible.

Conversely, alcohol and marijuana, significantly effects perception and I do not feel comfortable parenting while using these substances at all. 

Between my friends and I, I noted several of us have a history of depression and anxiety. To deal with this, our doctors have prescribed typical anti-depression and anti-anxiety drugs such as Cymbalta, Citalopram, Wellbutrin, Paxil, Lorazepam, and other pharmaceutical drugs. The issue with many of these drugs, is that these prescription medications make people feel tired, unmotivated, listless, and a much less engaged parent.

How can microdosing help parents? 

Microdosing has been shown to be incredibly effective in dealing with depression and anxiety. I found the exact opposite effects while microdosing mushrooms. It seems that mental health difficulties were being effectively dealt with by microdosing, but the side effects were extremely positive. We found we had a great deal more energy and a heightened motivation for doing all sorts of fun activities with our children.

One friend, with two young children, stated that he believed microdosing increased his compassion level when dealing with his children. His decision making was improved, and he was able to better connect with his children. He described that he had increased patience and was much more motivated to do activities with his children.

I found remarkably similar benefits. I was finding that after 8 months of dealing with the pandemic and being firmly in the middle of another Canadian winter, I was struggling with motivation to do things with my child. Add to this the fact that daycares and schools were closed again, and my child was very isolated from other children, and I was concerned this could harm my child’s development. 

Microdosing gave me added energy and motivation to get through those difficult times and push myself to be there with my child and have fun with them. Playing with my child or going to the park with them, became much more enjoyable activities for me.  

I was able to connect with my child in an incredibly special way and interact and play with them in a very compassionate and caring way that we both greatly enjoyed. Microdosing seemed to allow me to play with my child on the child’s level, and to really get into their mental state and use our imaginations to have lots of fun and do all sorts of activities. 

Microdosing off and on through the pandemic has been a very eye-opening experience. I believe that without microdosing and feeling more depressed and isolated than normal due to the pandemic, I probably would have had to go to the doctor and be prescribed a typical medication that would probably make me tired, unmotivated, and less engaged. Getting through those tough times with microdosing, and the profound benefits I, and others, believed it to have on their parenting abilities was such a positive experience that I hope other parents read this and are able to decide what is best for them in the future. 

If you are reading this and are trying to decide if this is right for you, I think a very reasonable place to start would be to microdose for the first time on a day when your spouse, or another family member is around, just to ensure everybody is safe and you do not get overly worried. When you know how your body reacts to microdosing, then you can make better decisions as to what is best for you and your family. 

By: Matt // MindfulMeds