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Real life accounts of how people succeed using Alcemi Essences - to encourage and inspire you.
(Names and some personal details may have been changed to protect the privacy of the individual and others connected with them.)
Each essence in the Alcemi range is designed to support a positive state that can help you be at your best and increase your sense of well being. Together they add up to success. These case studies demonstrate how very different people have used some of the essences.
Other information to help you:
Advice on how to choose which essence to use at any time, and how to take them
Information about each essence in the Alcemi range
Scenarios - taking situations you might encounter with suggestions for essences to use
Secrets of Success - in depth features on individual essences and the issues they relate to.
If you want to ask for suggestions on which essences to use in your particular circumstances email us: info@alcemi.org
Could your story inspire others? We really like to hear about your challenges, achievements and successes and how you are using Alcemi Essences. Celebrate and share: feedback@alcemi.org
Case Studies on this page:
Simon, successful executive, gets the courage and support to change his lifestyle.
Kate, late 30s has to cope when her relationship breaks up
Career girl, Natalie gets to grips with the challenge of promotion
Housewife, Margo finds the confidence to pursue her ideas.
New mother Susie recovers her get up and go.
Simon gets the courage and support to change his lifestyle
Usually a fairly optimistic person, Claire suspected her life might be about to fall apart. Worried, but determined to cope whatever happened, she had treated herself to a full set of Alcemi Essences. She was soon using them in a way she hadn’t anticipated. Claire’s husband, Simon, was coming home later and later and seemed increasingly stressed and snappy with her and their two sons. Worried he was having an affair, she decided it was better to know the worst. One weekend she put 'Connexion' in both their drinks, and by Sunday afternoon felt ready to start the conversation she was dreading.
The problem wasn’t another woman, it was Simon’s job. He had risen to a well paid executive position, but following a company takeover his role had changed. He was spending most of his time dealing with corporate politics and new responsibilities he neither wanted nor enjoyed. He wanted out, but felt trapped by the large mortgage they had taken on with their luxury home, and the lifestyle the whole family was used to. He dreamed of retiring early, selling up and moving to Scotland , but felt he couldn’t uproot the boys who were at critical stages of their education.
Claire said they should start considering all their options, reminding Simon that her income, though much less than his, could be a buffer. She suggested Simon take 'Vision' and start thinking instead of just fantasising. The more Simon thought about the next few years, he realised early retirement wasn’t an option, he would be bored. What mattered most was to feel in control of his life again. He decided he would like to set up his own consultancy business. His contacts and experience would be a good basis to start from, the idea appealed, but he was hesitant to do anything about it. Claire arranged for the boys to stay with friends one weekend, pulled the phone from its socket, got out Alcemi ‘Decisiveness’ and made lots of coffee. They stayed up Saturday night till Simon had worked out his plan of campaign. He gave himself six months to clarify his business idea, lay the groundwork and be ready to give in his notice. Claire knows they are taking a risk, but says the risk has much better odds than if Simon had carried on the way he was.
Kate has to cope when her relationship breaks up
Kate, was thirty seven when her partner of six years walked out of her life. Busy pursuing promising careers and active life styles, they had been drifting apart, without Kate really noticing. Now she was devastated. Normally self controlled and efficient at work, she struggled to cope with extreme swings of emotion. Finally breaking down in tears, she was told to take a week off.
A concerned colleague gave her a bottle of 'Equilibrium', which Kate found really helpful in dealing with the emotional turbulence. Recognising her life was at a turning point she ordered some other Alcemi Essences. Desperate to understand what had gone wrong, she decided to take 'Clarity'. With time to think about her situation, Kate realised she was as angry with herself as much as hurt by the way her partner had left. In truth she had been putting up with a lot of things she wasn’t happy about in the relationship, but she had been reluctant to rock the boat. She wanted children, her partner didn’t, but she had been hoping he would come round to the idea.
It was clear that there were major decisions to be made quickly, but Kate felt she needed a sense of direction first.. She started taking 'Vision', and asking herself what mattered now. She had proved herself in her work, and enjoyed city life, now she wanted something different. She decided not to buy her partner out of their flat, but to move out from London to where she could afford a house and garden. Commuting wouldn’t be much fun, but once she had moved she could look for more local work.
Kate’s fell in love with the first house she went to see, but the purchase fell through just before exchange of contracts. She took 'Equilibrium' to steady her nerves and opted to go ahead with selling the flat. Kate says 'Vision' and 'Persistence' helped get her through the next two months. “It was difficult, staying with different friends, living out of a suitcase, house hunting at weekends, sometimes I felt close to despair. 'Vision' helped me remember what I was trying to achieve, and 'Persistence' helped me keep trying!” Kate did find another house that she liked, and when she contacted us contracts had just been exchanged. “It’s been a big upheaval, but moving is just the start in making a new life for myself. I’m joining a dating agency and I’m more excited about the future than I’ve been for a long time.”
Natalie gets to grips with the challenge of promotion
Natalie, a single woman in her late 20s is very ambitious. She applied for a position in her organisation that would be a bold step up the career ladder. In truth Natalie thought her chances of landing the job were slim, but she set herself the challenge of seeing how well she could do, and made Alcemi Essences part of her strategy. The first stage of the selection process involved giving a presentation. She took 'Exuberance' to help her put on a good show and appear confident. She got through to the next stage - a day of in depth interviews. In contrast to the other candidates Natalie knew her youth and comparative lack of experience could count against her. “I knew I’d just have to ooze gravitas and look like a leader in waiting” she told us later. She started taking 'Presence' several days beforehand, and sneaked some into her drinks during the day.
She was thrilled and a little scared when she heard she had landed the job. She knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but her heart sank when she discovered that her deputy, Mark, a man in his late thirties, had been one of the other job applicants. It was a difficult situation and Natalie could sense his resentment. Instead of looking to him for support, she felt he was just waiting for her to slip up. Initially she felt overwhelmed with all the new information there was to take on board, and anxious about the level at which she would now be expected to perform. “I needed all the help I could get, without letting on that I needed any”
Determined to succeed she decided an action plan was essential and selected three essences - 'Presence', 'Clarity' and 'Decisiveness' - as part of her tool kit. To set her pace she put the emphasis on taking action in the mornings, leaving meetings and information gathering as far as possible till after lunch. She took 'Decisiveness' every morning, before and after starting work, and 'Clarity' from lunch time onwards. Before important meetings and any time she had to deal with Mark she took Presence. “I realised I was in danger of going round in circles afraid to assert my authority for fear of getting it wrong. I needed to find my feet and get in the swing of it, and not be afraid of being decisive. Some things needed to change, other things needed more consideration. The most crucial thing I did was to decide what needed my attention first, and what could wait and to feel OK with that.”
It’s not quite three months since she started the new job. It’s often daunting, but Natalie is relishing the challenge, and rapidly growing into her new role.
Margo finds the confidence to pursue her ideas.
Margo was uneasy. Her youngest son was about to leave home for University. While she felt like branching out, her husband, Mike, who was ten years older, kept talking about retirement and how much he was looking forward to taking it easy. Margo felt that after years of keeping house, bringing up the children, and entertaining her husband’s business associates, she wanted to do something on her own account and have money in her personal bank account that didn’t come via Mike.
They were comfortably off, and her life might look easy from the outside, but she was plagued by a nagging sense of self doubt when she contacted Alcemi Essences. “I never had a burning ambition, I was always happy looking after the family. It might sound ordinary, but that was the most important thing. I want to do something else now, but I’m not sure what, where to start, or whether there is anything I could do now”
It sounded as if Margo needed to give herself permission to lighten up, be more playful, and experiment to reconnect with what her own interests and enthusiasms really were. We suggested she take 'Creativity' and 'Juvenescence' on alternate days, and that remembering things she used to enjoy or always dreamed of doing when she was younger might produce some ideas.
Within a week of taking the essences Margo started radically spring cleaning and rearranging the house. Having thrown out a lot of things, she went shopping for replacements, and found herself enjoying browsing through antique shops. Catching sight of herself in a large gilt mirror she decided she deserved a makeover as much as the house. She had her hair cut in a new style and was surprised at how much this boosted her confidence.
Chatting to a stallholder at an antiques market set her thinking about antiques as possible part time venture. When she mentioned this to her husband he was rather dismissive. It was obvious he had assumed she would be happy to simply go along with his plans. Mike said that what he was looking forward to being free of commitments, and able to travel more. He didn’t want to be tied to some antique shop. Instead of feeling crushed by this response, Margo started thinking about possibilities. She liked the idea of travelling too, perhaps she could combine it with an antiques business of some kind.
Since then she has been reading books on antiques, going to every antique shop and auction room she can find, and has booked herself on a short course on setting up your own business. Margo doesn’t know exactly how she will take things forward, but she is confident she will find a way!
Susie recovers her get up and go.
Although she had been looking forward to the birth of her first baby, Susie found it harder to adjust to being a mother than she expected. Exhausted from interrupted sleep, and what often felt like an endless round of nappies and feeding, some days it was hard to motivate herself to get dressed or do anything. Although Susie was concerned that she wasn’t coping very well, she found it hard to talk about her feelings. She felt her friends who didn’t have children wouldn’t understand, and the baby talk when she met other new mothers seemed rather competitive.
While pregnant Susie had decided to go organic as far as possible, now she thought Alcemi Essences were worth trying because they were organic. Tiredness and lack of motivation concerned her most, so Susie decided to start by taking 'Energize' in the mornings, hoping that if she could start more days on a positive note, they would be less likely to spin into a downward spiral.
Although she still felt physically tired some mornings, it became easier to get going, and - what she hadn’t expected - easier to stop. She began taking catnaps during the day while the baby slept.
Instead of struggling through Susie started to feel more in control. She took the initiative and joined a baby massage class where she met other mothers she felt she had more in common with. She soon made two new friends, and says it’s not only fun to meet up with them, but reassuring to talk about the challenges they all face in adjusting to life with a baby.
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Alcemi Essences are a range of pure organic flower essences -
created to support a range of resourceful states in which
you can effectively, successfully be your best
Whatever success means to you, Alcemi flower essences can help you achieve it.
See the Alcemi Range of Essences
Could your story inspire others? We really like to hear about your challenges, achievements and successes and how you are using Alcemi Essences. Celebrate and share: feedback@alcemi.org
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