I’m experimenting with a performance-enhancing drug used to increase motivation, focus, and energy.

In fact, I’m using it right now. This is the fourth time in the past week that I’ve consumed the drug prior to a writing session and I’m finding it to be incredibly effective.

I got curious about it last month when a friend, who’s the CEO of a private equity backed business, said he’s been using it and shared a little from his stash with me.

Prior to ingesting any drug, I like to do some research to know what I’m getting myself into.

While there are some negative effects, including addictive properties, this doesn’t seem to be much of an issue at low doses.

And conveniently, the drug is easy to get. I bought my pack of 2 mg nicotine gum at the grocery store.

Humans have been getting the benefits from nicotine for thousands of years through tobacco, but smoking and using dip causes cancer – not something particularly appealing to me.

Nicotine itself has no cancer-causing properties and is also found in tomatoes, eggplant, and cauliflower.

On a podcast about nicotine’s effects on the brain, Andrew Huberman said, “I think we can really place nicotine up there at the top, right next to caffeine as the molecule that has fundamentally changed human evolution, human consciousness, and human experience.”

As a society, we often think of drugs in binary terms. Blood pressure medicine – good. Cocaine – bad. But in reality, it’s shades of grey. Every drug has both positive and negative effects.

Regardless of whether you’re consuming caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, cannabis, or any other molecule, regardless of age restrictions, doctor’s recommendation, or government approval, we’re all putting things into our bodies that change how we feel and the reality we experience.

It’s fun, weird to think about, and a little scary – just like life.

Artwork created by Midjourney with the prompt: performance-enhancing drugs.