How do you handle a friend who came back from an ayahuasca retreat as a different person?

Bitch Fest suggests that real transformation doesn't require becoming a walking Instagram caption who prescribes shadow work to everyone. The column recommends naming the impact directly: 'I miss my friend who made inappropriate jokes and ate gas station sushi with me.' That honest statement is more useful than attending a sound bath.

What is the difference between genuine spiritual growth and a personality transplant?

The column draws the line at whether the transformation involves humility or superiority. Real growth doesn't require constantly telling everyone else they're vibrating wrong, which is described as judgment in yoga pants. If your friend interrupted your promotion story to prescribe releasing your capitalist trauma, she got lost in the gift shop, not the jungle.

Is it okay to miss the pre-retreat version of your friend?

Absolutely, and the column validates this without apology. Losing the person who would slash your ex's tires with you to someone who now thanks their triggers is a genuine relational loss. Missing that specific friendship is not low-vibrational thinking. It's honest grief about a relationship that changed without your consent.

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Bitch Fest: When Your Best Friend Goes Spiritual Guru

By Joseph Tito • September 6, 2025

Two women tense loving coffee conversation

LETTER 1Dear Bitch Fest, My best friend just had a "life-changing" ayahuasca retreat and now she won’t stop telling me I’m “vibrating at a low frequency.” She literally interrupted my story about getting promoted to tell me I need to “release my capitalist trauma.” Last week she brought a shaman she met on Hinge to brunch, and he tried to sage my mimosa. I miss the version of her who made inappropriate jokes and ate gas station sushi with me. How do I get her back, without attending a sound bath? , Missing My Low-Vibe BestieDear Missing My Low-Vibe Bestie,Ah yes, the post-psychedelic personality transplant, where your perfectly good trash goblin bestie returns from the jungle convinced that her sarcasm was just suppressed trauma and now only speaks in wellness word salad.Here's the cosmic joke your friend doesn't get: nothing says "low vibration" quite like constantly telling everyone else they're vibrating wrong. That's not enlightenment. That's just judgment in yoga pants.She didn't find herself in the Amazon. She got lost in the gift shop.Let me paint you a picture of what actually happened: Your friend paid $3,000 to throw up in a yurt while some white guy named Trevor (who now goes by...