I took magic mushrooms to relieve the stress of motherhood

<p><b>I took magic mushrooms to relieve the stress of motherhood.</b></p> <p>Do you know that saying about the Sixties? If you remember them, you weren’t there?</p> <p>My parents remember the Isle of Wight Festival in 1969, where Bob Dylan headlined. They popped by out of curiosity and left at 8 pm. My folks were — and still are — wonderfully straight.</p> <p>Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to know that I was brought up as a sensible, law-abiding, rule-following citizen, and I was no hippy kid. So, what I’m about to admit may sound at odds with my upbringing and middle-class roots.</p> <p>I have taken magic mushrooms. I enjoyed them. In fact, I liked them more than wine. And I am not alone. I know plenty of mothers of young children, like me, who have enjoyed a little psilocybin here and there. I’d go as far as to say the UK is in the early stages of a psychedelic renaissance. Over the past year, as a brand owner (Selfish Mother) and influencer on Instagram (@mollyjanegunn, 116,000 followers), I’ve noticed my online following of parents talking more freely about psilocybin, either overtly or by the subtle use of a red mushroom emoji as a code. I’ve also noticed the trend in school-run circles in Somerset, where I live.</p> <p>These parents are most interested in microdosing mushrooms to keep calm and carry on. Many people I know take them — in mainly tiny amounts — as typically as you might take a paracetamol or pour a glass of wine. The view is they offer a unique way of decompressing. Depending on how much you take, there might be a lightness of being, a feeling of connection, clarity, laughter and a sense of calm. And, unlike booze, no hangover.</p> <p>Then after a dinner party, for instance, mushroom chocolates or truffles — in which small amounts of magic mushrooms have been blended into chocolate — might be handed out instead of a bar of Green &amp; Black’s. Or, at a festival, one might have a few mushroom oil “drops” from a pipette to accompany a cold shandy. Or one might pick a li