We hie to the office, then run home, happen to be late for planes and get nervous in traffic jams. Modern man's life cannot be put on pause, time is fast and 'Zeitnot' became a life style. But may be sometimes we should stop and think: what's the point? What are we living for? Are we happy? Our columnist Alyona Demina, the owner of Edem Couture boutique seems to have found the answers.
It now looks like even being a child I knew what I was going to be: I saw life as an enthralling adventure, something interesting happened around me all of the time. My mother and grandmother must have had a lot of troubles with me — I was stubborn, always experimenting. I could cut my mother's dress and curtains in order to sew my own outfit — like many girls I was dreaming of being a fashioner. Sometimes I mixed my mother's perfumes to play a role of a famous couturier with new perfume line. I also dreamt of a cook career and easily burnt pans. My parents became that 'undercover support' from the book of well known child psychologist Lyudmila Petranovskaya. They never got angry at me and never tried to change me but always gave me a chance to face the consequences of my actions. You burned the pan? Take a rob and wipe it off. And that's the point where two of my inner power sources were born: freedom and ability to take responsibility for my actions.
I've got the best father in the world. He became a wolf from Klarissa Pinkola Estes' book 'The woman who run with the wolves' — my guide to the grownup life. You want to learn how to swim? Jump and swim or you will be drowned. I learnt to swim that day when he pushed me from the shore in Tuapse. The only moment my father limited my freedom to choose was when I said that I want to do psychology and marketing. He said that psychology is a life experience based on economy. I got my excellent diploma in Plekhanov Russian University of economics, forgot about all I was taught to do and proceeded with marketing and psychology. I learnt to not be drowned and insist on my own opinions later in Moscow when he suddenly opened his car's door and said: 'Okey, girl, you're on your own now I have to leave for a while'. And I was all alone but felt no fear. We sat with my future husband and discussed the situation. I remember our dialogue:
— What shall we do?
— Toothpaste.
— Why toothpaste?
— Because everyone needs it and we don't have a really good one in our country.
I liked the idea and we started to go into all possible details: chemical ingredients, micro elements, people's needs, their specific necessities, hygienic and medical qualities of different additions. We started from zero and had no seed money. Splat costed us many sleepless nights, immense labor, several penniless years when we had money enough to pay our co-workers only. But the idea of doing useful things for other people supported us much. Today Splat is very popular all over the world, it is the most bought toothpaste in Germany for example. By that time I was left without my father's help I was used to; I recomprehended many things. I suddenly asked myself who I was. What was I and what did I live for? I was looking for an answer and found it inside of myself, in my faith. I went to my spiritual teacher — Father Vlasiy. And the answer came — I realized that I wanted to share, to give. It was a source of power — one more: to serve people; a day was lived through not in vain, when you were useful at least for one person.
And then as a response to my childish dream Edem Couture was born. Something grew inside of me, ripened, I didn't understand what exactly is growing — it could be anything instead of this brand. But I saw dreams. There were incredible dresses, shop windows, my beloved Tverskoy Boulevard and the word. EDEM. Dreams were annoying because in the Orthodox religion they are not supposed to be something significant. But Father Vlasiy once again helped me to make a right decision and choice. 'You will make beautiful dresses, EDEM should be!' — he said and blessed me to make the brand. There were no more doubts, just the happiness to create, make something that made every day filled with sense and joy — to help women. I try to share my knowledge with them, to help them realize their role in a family life, to inspire their men, to be loved by their men through all of their lives.
I'm a happy person. Not everyone can see his Path and his life's meaning so clearly. I know exactly what I want: 'happiness for all' like in Strugatskiyes' novel 'and no one leaves disadvantaged'. I want children to grow up in full families so that family as an institution will never be depreciated, on the contrary — would become a strong support for people. I want every person to have two power sources like I do: love and freedom.
