ABOUT PEGGY VAN DE PLASSCHE

International Speaker. Author. Entrepreneur.

After 20 years in the financial services and technology industries as an executive, venture capitalist, board member, advisor, entrepreneur and public speaker, I went “From Finance to Fungi” and now guide high performers effectively level up their performance and mental wellness through a highly strategic regimen of alternative medicines.

Like many in today’s society, I had been climbing the corporate ladder for decades and had become entrenched in a never ending cycle of stress, anxiety and depression. I was addicted to my email and obsessed with getting ahead in the hustle culture. To protect myself from falling apart (or having a complete meltdown), I had built up walls around my authentic desires and real emotions until not even I could recognize them. I was also self medicating with alcohol in an attempt to take the edge off the intense anxiety, anger, and pain that simmered right under the surface. I had become completely numb, just passively going through the motions of my life.

For years, I desperately tried every method under the sun to get myself to feel something again: preferably a positive emotion like joy, excitement, or hope. Therapy, coaching, meditation, energy healing, you name it… I spent countless hours and massive amounts of money trying to dig myself out of the grave in which I had been buried alive. It felt like there was this constant tug of war between what I had and what I truly wanted out of life. Compounding that unease was a deep sense of guilt. Here I was with what many would consider a dream life. What right did I have to be so unfulfilled?

When I finally reached my breaking point and was about ready to turn to pharmaceutical help (what I considered my very last resort), I came across microdosing psilocybin. Skeptical at first due to the legal gray area and social stigma, I dove deep into education in an attempt to learn as much as possible. What I eventually understood was compelling. Psychedelics like psilocybin have been used for thousands of years, do not lead to physical dependence, and can be produced naturally. What’s more, there is a world of difference between the “trips” that are most commonly associated with psychedelics and what happens during microdosing. In most cases, drinking a cup of coffee will produce a more noticeable physical reaction than taking a microdose of psilocybin.

Thanks to the addition of microdosing psilocybin in my wellness regimen, I am now at peace and feel that I have regained my rightful place in the driver’s seat of my own life. No longer am I asleep at the wheel or mindlessly watching the landscape go by through the open window. Knowing that my experience could help others and serve to destigmatize the use of psychedelics, I launched The Microdose Diet and began writing and speaking full-time on this topic.