Little AlchemiesLab reports from the Alchemy Lab
Every parenting newsletter asks about your child. This one asks about you.
Little Alchemies is a free Substack newsletter for caregiver mothers. Once or twice a month, I send you a lab report: an honest essay about one small experiment in becoming myself again, from inside the same season you’re in, with a five-minute prompt so you can run it too.
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Does any of this sound familiar?
You know the days I mean
You’re up before everyone else and moving all day. The appointments, the meltdowns, the forms and the meals all get handled. You’re good at holding everything.
Then night comes, and you realize you haven’t checked in with yourself once. Not today. Maybe not in months.
Raising a neurodivergent or special needs child transforms your reality in ways no one prepared you for. In the midst of caring for everyone else, the woman you were before Diagnosis Day can feel distant. You still miss her.
Little Alchemies is where we go find her.
What this is
One small experiment, one honest report
Each lab report is a long-form essay from inside the caregiving season, built the same way every time, so you always know what you’re getting.
What I tried
One small, low-capacity experiment in becoming myself again, chosen for real life, not for a quiet house and a free afternoon.
What happened
What worked, what didn’t, and what I’m keeping. I include the failures, because you deserve the honest version.
Your turn
Every report ends with one five-minute prompt pulled from the tools I use in the Alchemy Lab, so you can run the experiment too.
- No hour-long morning routines
- No 30-day challenges
- No guilt for falling behind
Better than broadcasts
What Lands in Your Inbox
A personal lifeline for mothers navigating autism and special needs caregiving: stories that mirror your reality, and wisdom that nurtures your soul.
Honest Lab Reports
Real-life, unfiltered essays from a fellow mom in the trenches: the experiment, what worked, and what didn’t.
Stolen from the Lab Prompts
Gentle, five-minute self-growth and life design prompts pulled from my own tools, for reclaiming your sense of self.
Grounding & Slow Living Practices
Practical wisdom for creating beauty, meaning, and joy in the life you’re actually living.
A Sense of Real Community
Where you can feel truly seen and understood, honoring both your challenges and your strength.
Who it’s for
This is for you if…
- Caregiving takes everything you’ve got, and most days you run on autopilot.
- You’re tired of resources that only talk about your child.
- Self-care advice seems written for women with time, money and quiet houses.
- You don’t want to be fixed. You want to remember who you are.
Little Alchemies is not a parenting newsletter. It is a personal growth space for the woman underneath the caregiving role.
What I believe
Survival Mode isn’t proof that you’ve lost yourself. It’s raw material.
Alchemy is the old art of turning something heavy into something precious. That’s the work here. We take what this season has handed you and turn it, one small experiment at a time, into a life that feels like your own again.
Who I am
Hi, I’m Cheniece.
I’m a wife, a mother of two autistic and special needs children, and a caregiver. I’m also delightfully woo: spiritually grounded, a little witchy, and unapologetic about it.
I’m not writing to you from the other side of this. I’m in it. I built the tools in the Alchemy Lab because I needed them, and I still use them myself, usually late at night after everyone’s asleep.
Writing is how I find my way back to myself. These letters are me doing that out loud, so you know you’re not the only one.
What readers are saying
Notes from the inbox
I loved your letter and I am with you in the isolated mom club. Or is it anti-social mom club? Idk. The masking to get through a conversation at the park, or grocery store, or large gatherings is eXaUsTiNg and you put to words the mental load so eloquently. I appreciate you, Mama!
The ‘performance of normality’ – what a great phrase. You describe it so well, the decision each time of how much to share and the cost either way. Thank you. I hope you find people who energise you when you interact with them. That’s another part for me – how much energy and capacity I have to reach out and to build relationships.
Hi Cheniece… I love how unapologetic your voice is about raising two disabled kids. We need more moms who take up the full space. Glad to have you here.
Real answers for your real life
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is a lab report?
It’s a long-form, honest essay about one small experiment I’m running in becoming myself again, from inside the same caregiving season you’re in. I tell you what I tried, what worked, and what didn’t. I include the failures, because you deserve the honest version, and because the failures are usually where the real lesson lives.
How often will I hear from you?
Once or twice a month. That pace honors my real-life capacity, and yours. Each lab report is meant to be read when you finally get five quiet minutes, whether that’s in the pickup line or after bedtime. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in every letter.
What’s a “Stolen from the Lab” prompt?
Every lab report ends with one five-minute prompt or practice pulled straight from the tools I use in the Alchemy Lab, so you can run the same experiment this week. It’s free, it’s small enough for a hard day, and nobody checks your homework.
Do I have to buy anything?
Never. Every lab report and every prompt is free. The full tools live in the Alchemy Lab, and there’s a deeper room in my membership, but they’re only there if you want them. You’ll never find a countdown timer or a guilt trip in my letters.
Do I need a Substack account?
Not at all. All you need is your email address. Little Alchemies lives on Substack, but every lab report arrives right in your inbox like any other email, so there’s nothing new to set up or remember. If you ever like, you can also read on the web or in the free Substack app.
Is this only for “autism moms/special needs moms”?
While my personal experience centers around the autism diagnoses of my two children, this newsletter eagerly and very warmly welcomes all mothers and other female caregivers of children with any and all special needs, neurodivergence, disabilities, and chronic conditions. You’ll instantly feel right at home here.
I’m overwhelmed already. Why add another email?
Because this isn’t another to-do. There are no morning routines that need an hour you don’t have, and no 30-day challenges you’ll feel guilty about quitting. It’s a check-in sized for the capacity you actually have: breathing space, honest company, and one small thing to try.
What if I want more support beyond the letters?
That’s what my membership is for. It’s the deeper room, where members get the Capacity Kit, Seasonal Survival Guides, and the Member Group Chat for $8 a month or $80 a year, and founding members ($150 a year) also get a one-on-one Tarot Clarity Reading with me. Start with the free letters, and you’ll know when you’re ready. Subscribers hear about it first.
A gift while you wait for your first lab report
Ready to stop just surviving?
If Survival Mode has been running the show for a while, start with my free Survival Mode Exit Strategy Workbook: a gentle, interactive way to map how you’ll find your way out. No overwhelm. No pressure. Just a soft place to start, from right where you are.
Get the free workbookWhat do you need, too?
Pass it on
Know a mom who needs this?
Let her scan this code with her phone camera, and she’ll land right on Little Alchemies. It takes about ten seconds, and it might be the softest thing she’s handed all week.
- 1Open the camera on her phone.
- 2Point it at the code and tap the link that appears.
- 3Add her email. Her first lab report is on its way.
Start here
Pull up a chair.
Let’s find her.
Subscribe, and your first lab report arrives in your inbox. Read it when you finally get five quiet minutes, whether that’s in the pickup line or after bedtime. I’ll be here.
Join Little Alchemies
Free on Substack. Your email is all it takes.
Free, always. Unsubscribe anytime, in one click.— Cheniece
Free · Honest · Sized for the capacity you actually have