I still want to try it, one day. Just scared my mind never returns to normal
I think that is a bit of an overblown myth.
Shrooms are actually a fascinating experience. I say this as someone who has literally never smoked weed, nor tried any other psychedelics, nor any narcotics (heroin, cocaine etc). In fact, I have zero interest in the narcotics. Shrooms interest me greatly because it is well accepted that they are so beneficial for your brain/mind (if there is a difference).
I think you can break the effects of shrooms down into the effects on your thought patterns and the effect on your vision (hallucinations).
I don't tend to have trips that are as visual as other people. I don't know why. Some people describe sparkles and different colours, I don't really get that. I've never really had major hallucinations the way some people report. The most I've ever hallucinated, I could see geometric patterns on floors and walls, and I'd see what looked like text printed on some surfaces. I couldn't read the text, but I knew that it was text. In some cases, it floated in mid air - my brain had connected blades of grass together and formed a surface upon which it printed text I couldn't read.
The thing about hallucinations is that - at least in my experience - you never see anything that isn't there. You just interpret it differently. So, I'd be looking at a plant with patterns on its leaves. The patterns would not constant. Imagine you turned a lava lamp into a plant - that's what it looked like. But I knew it was still a plant and it still had those patterns. They just didn't stand still. In another case, a brick wall looked like the bricks were made of melting cheese, which was pretty cool. But, they were still recognizably bricks. The outline and colours were the same, but my brain interpreted it as melting cheese, which was dripping down. Still, it never changed if that makes any sense. What I mean is that, a brick would stay in place. It looked like it was in motion because it looked like the cheese should have been falling down, but it didn't move. It just looked like it did.
I also notice that there is a connection between how I focus my attention and the hallucinations. The more you focus on a particular thing, the less you hallucinate. If you relax and unfocus your mind, the hallucinations get stronger. Its like you have to not be looking directly at something in order for it to hallucinate. Have it in your field of view, but don't stare at it. If you stare at it, chances are it will look normal. Depends on the dose though. On a high enough dose, you'll hallucinate no matter what you do with your mind.
Speaking of the mind - you'll notice that your thoughts go from A to B to C.... etc all the way to Z very quickly. So quickly that you almost lose contact with the present moment. It's hard to explain. But it's a distinctly different way of thinking to normal. This is what causes you to zone out. It's perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of tripping, perhaps more so than the visuals for me.
