Welcome Home
Wow, HI!
Welcome to the official Alchemy of Home blog. I hope to be able to share a different kind of viewpoint here than what you might find on my TikTok (thealchemyofhome), Youtube (alchemyofhome) and LinkedIn (Liz Palmer). Writing comes pretty naturally to me, and I’ve found I can often best express myself in this form. Even though I’m pretty comfortable on camera as it relates to TikTok and Youtube, I think my truest expression often manifests in the form of pretty prose and rambling sarcasm.
So here’s the tea: A few months ago, I began sensing shifts in the wind. November 6th, specifically, fundamentally altered my DNA. If you’re in the 4 am club, you know exactly what I mean. I knew the world was going to change in strange, terrifying and magnificent ways, and I had to let go of old structures that don’t work or are actively breaking down. In simpler words, I knew I’d lose my job eventually, and the comfortable life I’ve been living was absolutely going to get uncomfortable. I can’t say that I was looking forward to yet another reinvention, but I knew it was coming. I also viscerally felt the impact of a felon and a rapist being “elected” to the highest office in the world. If this is who we really think should be in power (it’s not), then all bets are off. There are truly no rules anymore. I knew it was time for me to redefine myself and my life if I plan to make it in the new world. The vibes were just totally off, and I knew I couldn’t let myself get buried in the rubble of the destruction that’s to come.
Around January, I began working iterations of this concept as best I could while also navigating catatonic dissociative states, holding space (no, I know) for my friends who are also devastated by the state of America, and logging into work every day pretending everything is normal when in fact, absolutely nothing is normal. It was a complete mind fuck. I was almost totally blocked, but this idea was bubbling under the surface, and I had some loose plans. Concepts of a plan, if you will. I even told a friend, “In March, I’m going to do this,” and she was quick to remind me of that prophetic statement when I did, indeed, lose my job in March.
When I saw that Teams meeting pop onto my calendar that mid-March day, I knew it was time. It went on 18 minutes before its start, and my palms were sweating more profusely with every moment that passed. I knew what was coming, mostly because I knew my boss would never do me dirty with a meeting like that. Having survived prior layoffs, she knew how sensitive I am to what these last-minute meetings imply.
As I counted down the clock, I had a conversation with myself. I said, “Ok, girl. This is probably it. If it’s not it, you better start busting your ass as if it is, because your clock is ticking. If this really is it, then your back is officially against the wall, and there is no other option than to burn it all down.” I literally pep talked myself out of a panic attack and onto a ledge that I may or may not have to jump off of that day. As a recruiter, I was plugged into LinkedIn daily, and not to be dramatic, but I’d rather skinny dip in the melting polar ice caps than fight for my life on indeed dot com. Please. This job market is absolutely diabolical, and I personally can’t debase myself by begging for another job from a company that will do this again as soon as soon as Dear Leader makes another insane tariff announcement. I’m so fucking done frfr.
Deep breath.
The funny thing is that as soon as I logged off Teams and was told I’d be locked out of my computer within 10 minutes, I felt like I’d just been released from prison. I always thought I’d immediately die if I ever got laid off- I mean that kind of literally. But I didn’t. In fact, it felt like my soul had been hovering outside my body for my entire adult life, and in an instant, it snapped back into me. It was like everything I needed instantly came flooding into me, and I started Alchemy of Home the very same day. I’m not saying by any stretch that this is what everyone should expect to happen to them when they lose their job. But for me, a right-brain girlie in a left-brain world, suddenly being kicked out of the matrix felt like God herself was shaking me awake.
Now, I feel like I get to be myself- no like FOR REAL. I don’t mean that in the corny, cliche way. I mean like I’m down to get arrested at a protest or say “fuck” gratuitously all over the internet just because it fits every word class, and I have a thing for a hard K sound. No one can rat on me for daring to have interests outside of work. I don’t have to use a thousand exclamation points so I don’t come across as a bitch (respectfully) in emails or LinkedIn posts. I can work on a Saturday night till 10 pm and go to the lake with my friends on a Wednesday at noon. I can do what I LOVE and show it to people, and if they’re down, and if they like me, we can even work together to create a little magic for us both. All of this just feels too right to be wrong. I have to explore it. It feels like my soul depends on it.
I can only make this comparison now that I have a new perspective, but for the last few years, I’ve felt like a wet powder keg, full to the brim with potential, but with a heaviness blanketed over me, blocking me from creating the life that was calling me. Now, I feel like a live wire. I truly feel ALIVE. The low-grade depression I’ve felt in my body ever since I set foot in an office building is just gone. I honestly thought I was just a depressed person who would always have to live with a persistent, dull ache in my chest- the ache that the life I was living was inescapable, because making 100k a year was more important to me than pursuing my passion and talents. Ironically, I thought the corporate life was my ticket to freedom and stability. How funny that I thought that way when my corporate jobs literally took my time from me, then drip fed it back in the form of PTO like they were doing me a favor. I’m not built for that. Many people are though, and I honestly have to say, my jobs served me mostly well until they didn’t. There’s no shame here, to be clear. I’m trying to articulate that I really didn’t believe that there was another way for me to do this until it was forced onto me.
While the branding of Alchemy of Home feels very love and light throughout the website, I want to make it known that I feel everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. I’m extremely sensitive, and my lows are just as meaningful as my highs. That’s what makes this new venture so special. I am quite literally Alchemizing my life in real time. I am taking what I’m given and transforming it into something meaningful and useful for me. This is my magic, and this is not my first rodeo. Not even close. I believe resilience is magic, and we all have it in us. We are born creative geniuses, and we are born with power. Most of us lose it all here in Western society as we’re forced into rigid productivity structures that ultimately serve those in upper echelons of power and wealth. I’ve been failed by this system, but I haven’t lost anything. I’ve been gifted my power back, and now I’m on a mission to help others find theirs again. Don’t worry, I’m not out to get you to quit your job. I’m just out to help you take what you have and transform it into something meaningful and beautiful to you, because that’s what makes life truly rich.
I hope to use this blog as a means to express more facets of myself and the Alchemy of Home. Come back and I’ll tell you all about this new venture, my alchemical philosophy, and you can get to know me a little better in the process.
You can hang out with me on TikTok @ thealchemyofhome, and if you don’t use TikTok, you’ll find these videos on Youtube Shorts @ alchemyofhome. I’m also on LinkedIn under my name, Liz Palmer if you prefer static content.
Talk soon!
Byeeee
