Set the Setting: December 2025

Each December, I reflect on the anniversary of my ayahuasca retreat, easily one of the most profound experiences of my life. As part of integration, I was asked to imagine my “perfect day 10 years in the future.” With the most clarity that I’ve ever had, I wrote it down and each December I ask myself if I’m 10% closer to that vision. By now, I should be 40% of the way there to waking up to my perfect day - which is pretty much like this capybara.

Honestly, I think I am 40% there; not quite halfway, but enough progress to feel the change, knowing I still have a long way to go. For that reason, I’m calling 2025 an overall success in the general direction of where I’m taking my life, despite it being a really hard year.

I’ve also found this question about “your perfect day 10 years from now” to be an excellent 1st date question - more so than anything else. Of course, our paths can and will change over time (mine has changed slightly), but this psychedelic integration question is incredibly telling; misalignment is a non-starter. The fact that I’m using it to find my ideal partner is further evidence that… I am indeed 40% of the way there.

I started the year with a vulnerable, confronting admission: I had started considering moving on from MAPS. Frankly, there was a solid chance that as the Finance and HR leader, I would be ushering in another round of layoffs at MAPS and my own role would be impacted.Luckily, we stabilized the org and no layoffs were needed! During that tumultuous time, I logged back onto LinkedIn and I hated every minute of it.

I’m happy to announce that I’m leaning into my new role at MAPS in 2026 as the Director of Operations. I’m going to be heads down bringing psychedelic healing to all. I’ll be on LinkedIn to hire for roles at MAPS, but feel sad about losing what was a useful social media networking app to the ragebait/spam algorithm. I will miss the genuine connections that LinkedIn used to provide.

I’ll also miss being the subversive voice on the internet that says “yes - psychedelics do belong in a corporate conversation!” I was recently on the Second in Command podcast; the host and I went way off script - we didn’t cover a single one of the questions discussed in the prep chat. Turns out, the guy who talks to COO’s all day just wanted to talk about his psychedelic experiences - and I was here for it!

At the very end, he asked me what I would tell myself before I took the role. In that moment, I gave myself the impromptu pep talk that I deserved: believe in yourself, Steven. Have some faith. You got this.

If you’ve been following my legal/remodel drama month-to-month, you’d know that by now… yes, I’m officially in a lawsuit. Getting sued sucks. 2025 was supposed to be the year I moved back into my condo. Instead, I’m in a bitter dispute with my HOA neighbor with seemingly no end in sight; only more court dates and legal fees.

The silver lining is that I always seem to unanimously win these Board of Appeals hearings. And the fact that they’re publicly recorded gives me content (people love courtroom drama!) and these hearings are ultimately used as evidence in my other hearings. So stay tuned, I’m due back for 2 more hearings in January!

There are many lessons being learned throughout this ordeal. One lesson I’ve learned is to really focus on my physical health. Since the mind-body connection is so strong, mental stress can impact sleep, recovery and all the aspects of my physical health. 2025 was the year I really started to notice more gray hairs!

I had moments this year when I really felt like I was in a downward spiral because so much of what’s happening feels out of my control. This loss of control has felt debilitating at times. Fortunately, psychedelics have really helped me manage and process difficult emotions.

During the integration of a ketamine experience, I reflected on how - even though I’m feeling this loss of control, there’s so much I can control. I can choose to eat nutritious foods, to dance at music festivals, to workout at Barry’s, have sex, go to bed on time, practice yoga, meditate, and all of the things that make me feel good. All of these choices are quite literally powering me up to persevere through this war.

Fortunately, I can report that this year has given me many opportunities to foster strong mental health strategies and coping mechanisms (through years of therapy and coaching). Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my life in 2025 and for giving me excellent mental health guidance!

Another physical health lesson I learned in 2025 - let your injuries fully heal before working out. God, this is such an obvious one. I tweaked my neck in June from sleeping wrong. And after taking a week off, I decided it would be ok to go to Trish’s Barry’s class and Charlotte’s pilates class back-to-back. I then spent 5 weeks recovering from that. Stupid stupid stupid.

To be completely honest, I’ve never really been in a bad financial situation before. My net worth had always gone up… until my remodel went off the rails when my contractor took his life, my neighbor started suing me, and I realized I’ve been making a non-profit salary for 4.5 years. All of sudden, things got bad. Up till now, budgets were… theoretical.

So in 2025, I went on a serious budgeting adventure. I was using an app to track every purchase and cutting back on everything. I was dog walking during my lunch breaks for extra cash. But when I realized I would have to walk dogs for 20 hours to pay the equivalent of 1 hour of my lawyer’s time - I realized that my mindset around money deserved a LOT more examination. I put in a lot of work around figuring out what aspects of my lifestyle were runaway costs that I could pull back on. I feel like I have a re-calibrated lifestyle where I still spend money on some luxuries and experiences that deliver joy. For everything else, there’s Costco.

For over 5 years, I have been trying to address Bauer’s intense separation anxiety and get him crate trained. This year… after multiple incidents of Bauer injuring himself in his crate and needing surgeries, I opted for the puppy Prozac.

I had some weird hesitation around drugging my dog, but as Pietro put it - he’ll be a happier, healthier dog. He encouraged me to try it and its worked wonders! Bauer is still anxious when I leave, but he doesn’t destroy anything or hurt himself. Addressing Bauer’s separation anxiety has been a consistent project (and a consistent “failing”) for years. Bauer’s my best friend and seeing him happy makes me happy.

Many of us in the psychedelic community were looking forward to the readout of Mindbio’s Phase 2b study, which was the largest placebo-controlled LSD microdosing trial to date.

The study was set up well and proactively addressed some of the issues the FDA took with the MDMA trials: It recruited psychedelic-naive participants where half of the group received a caffeine pill placebo. However, none of the primary or secondary endpoints (e.g. MADRS scores to evaluate major depressive disorder) were met when compared to placebo in this trial.

This doesn’t mean LSD doesn’t have therapeutic potential; it only means that “microdosing LSD likely does not treat depression.” I’m still an advocate for microdosing for those that anecdotally report benefits and look forward to more psychedelic science in our future. And of course, still very much an advocate for the heroic dose!