My daughter Maddie graduated from a performing arts college last month.
When the time came to talk about a gift, we did what many girls do. Looked at Gucci and Miu Miu bags. Talked about a trip.
Then she called me one day and said: “I know what I want. I want to rescue a cat.”
I wasn’t surprised. Not at all.
Maddie grew up in a house full of rescue dogs. She watched me bring home a dog tied to a tree, with no fur and open wounds. She watched us adopt a senior dog from down South who only had a short time left with us. We gave him every bit of love while we had him. She watched me spend thousands of dollars a month to extend another dog’s life by five years. I’d do it again without blinking.
She learned from all of it.
So when she said she wanted a senior cat, a cat other people had passed over — I understood completely.
We went to the ASPCA in NYC to meet a 10-year-old cat with vision problems she had found online. When we got there, he had been moved to foster care.
We went in expecting to leave with a cat, so we asked who else was there and would be a good fit. Knowing Maddie wanted a friendly cat, they had one that hadn’t been adopted yet due to some issues. We agreed to get introduced to him, Bradley.
Bradley is 5.5 years old. He came from a hoarding house. His file listed him as a behavioral and medical case. He has litter box issues. He needs medication twice a day.
Maddie was not deterred.
At 19, she looked at this cat and said: I love him!
Within 24 hours, Bradley became Wesley Theodore and he was completely devoted to her.
I am not a cat person. I am very much now a Wesley person.
There’s something that happens when you take a living thing out of stress and chaos and give it calm and love.
You see it happen in real time. The body settles. The eyes soften. The whole energy of the animal shifts. Maddie has watched this her whole life with dogs. Now she’s seeing it again, with a cat no one else wanted.
And I thought: this is what I do with people.
I work with women who are in their own version of stress and chaos. High-performing, impressive on paper, yet losing themselves in the process. They’ve been running so hard for so long that they’ve lost the connection to who they are outside of what they do.
My job is to give them the equivalent of what Maddie gave Wesley.
Calm. Space. A different way of seeing themselves. The belief that it is not too late.
Watching Maddie choose this cat didn’t just make me proud. It reminded me why I do this work.
Every woman I coach goes on to carry that shift into the rest of her life. Into how she leads. Into what she models for the people around her. The ripple is real.
Maddie didn’t choose the bag or the trip. She chose to change a life.
When you’re clear on your values, the choice is obvious.
I am launching a free newsletter next week, The Self-First Week.
I will share a story each week about my real life or my client’s, where self-first living is either challenged or celebrated. The behind the scenes into the mindset and narrative around it.
Plus journal prompts, podcasts, books and products that I have the pleasure of getting exposed to.
If this resonates, I would love to have you be a part of the distribution list.
You can sign up here!
xo ~ Jeanne
Jeanne Collins is a women’s awakening and leadership coach, TEDx speaker, and host of the Building the Best You Podcast. She founded House of JerMar after being let go from her VP role and rebuilding her life from the inside out. Her Self-First Reset program helps top female leaders reclaim their time, their health, and themselves.
