The funny thing about experiments is they require a controlled environment. My Nootropics experiment did not have that. It ran head-first into a few straight weeks of moving stuff out of my house. Poor planning on my part. Any days I took off from work were for trips back and forth to the old house, 100% devoted to packing and moving.
I guess part of me wanted these pills to take effect sooner. I didn’t expect instantaneous action or anything, but I wanted to get some writing out of my system before the Big Move. And I did get a decent amount of writing done, moreso than usual. But I wouldn’t say I felt this new unexplainable urge to write every day or anything. It was more like I wanted to get something done before starting on all the manual labor that I knew was ahead of me. Or maybe I wanted to write in my old office one more time. At any rate, I can’t attribute this action to any of the pills.
I tried to stay impartial during the experiement. And all I can say is I was noticeably more relaxed than usual. While I’m generally a chill and relaxed person, I can’t deny that these pills somehow made me super-chill. Perhaps even too chill considering what was going on in my life at the time.
But I can’t discount the different “feel in the air” during the months leading up to the end of 2021. That alone throws the results of this whole experiment. Right off the whimsy of our last Christmas we’d ever spend in that house came a pronounced bittersweet feeling. Every moment felt like we were saying goodbye.
During the move, there were too many days where I worked from morning to night, bruised and worked to exhaustion. I’d often miss the timeframes I was supposed to be taking my nootropics, and was horribly off-schedule right around the time this stuff was supposed to take its full effect. Because I was so busy, even on days where I felt like writing, I was often in situations where I was physically unable.
In fact, those two weeks of moving had the same kind of effect on me that a busy vacation does, sapping my will to write along the way. As I’ve mentioned in the past, vacations are my arch-nemesis. When I’m actually being productive on a daily basis, vacations are usually the combo breaker. But, blog aside, I can’t even say I was being all that productive leading up to the move.
By the time the dust had settled and we’d finally moved into our new … temporary living arrangement, I only had a few more days’ worth of pills left, which I’m saving for a second run. I’ll need to order more pills if I want to try this again, of course, preferably a regimen more focused on dopamine production/efficiency. And I’ll let you know when I’m ready for round two.
For now, though, things are comfortable enough at our new place. I’m getting used to the new routine. But at the end of this month, we’re taking a two week vacation to explore different states and help determine where we’d ultimately like to move. Maybe I can squeeze in some nootropics-free writing between now and then. But as it stands, I’d be a fool to reboot the experiment now. The timing must be right.
Nick Enlowe 
I used to experiment with nootropics too, I forgot exactly what my stack was, but I know that I can’t feel the difference with or without them. Things like l-theanine, that’s supposedly pretty ‘obvious’ didn’t work for me, so I now fall back on exercise, which gives me a much stronger kick than any nootropics I’ve ever taken. Or maybe I was just doing it wrong.
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I can’t tell if I’m a sucker who got ripped off buying pills I didn’t need… or someone who didn’t have the right stack… or someone who just didn’t stick to it long enough.
But hey, at least we tried. And we both stayed objective, not falling for the placebo effect. (Although, the placebo effect would’ve probably been better than nothing.)
These days I’m writing and exercising every day so these pills aren’t necessary. As for exercise, I installed a chin-up bar in a particular doorway I frequent and use it every time I walk by. It’s been proving effective.
I do still want to retry this experiment someday, but for now I’m writing consistently and don’t want to screw it up. Maybe dopamine efficiency is something that improves as you gain momentum through writing over time. That would help explain why writing gets easier the more consistently you do it. Or maybe it’s the exercise. Maybe it’s both.
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