Hey Rob. Interesting piece. I'll share a short personal similar experience..

About 18 years ago. I started drifting into mild psychosis, hearing people say things to me (they didn't), thinking people were following me, etc. This went on for maybe a year. Until one day (not sure the trigger). But a thought popped into my head, "oh, I'm just imagining all these things, they aren't real, they can't hurt you".

After that, I told many ppl close to me what I'd been going through. It seems, the acknowledgment of this AND the sharing with others disempowered those thoughts and imaginations. I've had a hand full of occurances since, acknowledgment of what they are always quotes them.

Since then, I have also found root causes, mainly from my childhood.

Oh on choosing to come to this world.. I've had two strong DMT experiences. Both took me to a place, with several ppl I "knew", and they seemed to be welcoming me home from my journey. Oh and that place feel more "real" than this one!