Why following my gut (and getting a cat) was the best decision!

Isn’t it funny how we so often and so easily ignore our gut feel?

Trusting your intuition is a topic that I am so passionate about, but it is so easy to slip back into old habits and rather than follow your gut, take on board lots of other people’s opinions. I thought I’d nailed the skill of trusting my intuition but recent events proved otherwise…

About 9 months ago I went to visit a potential new client in their home. My business cares for the elderly at home, and the first step in the process is meeting a new client to understand their needs. I went to the client’s home and she lived with her daughter and son in law and they were the most lovely family, so kind and compassionate. I had that familiar feeling straight away where I felt like I’d met them before and felt so welcomed.

It was a lovely meeting and it went really well, which in part was because they had an equally lovely cat, who came to see me straight away and was very affectionate towards me. I love animals, but I am not the kind of person that always connects with other people’s pets.

Sadly, we had lost our cat, Mimsy just a couple of weeks earlier. Mimsy was the most special cat to us, for reasons which I will share another time. We were devastated that she died and it was way too early in her life for her to go.

I mentioned this at my client meeting and I joked that if they ever needed a new home for their lovely cat we would be very keen! It genuinely was a joke at the time but that comment has changed our lives!

It turned out that the family had a few things going on - big family trips abroad, and also that the client was struggling with mobility and the cat often would get caught under her feet. As sad as it would be for the family, they felt it could be a good time for her to find love in a new home.

To be honest I was a bit shocked that a random client meeting had turned into a lot more. I remember thinking at the time how much I bonded with the cat in just a 45 minute meeting and I definitely had a special feeling about her.

However I also knew that my other half was broken after losing his cat so recently and I think it is important to allow yourself to grieve and honour the feelings of loss in your life. I had to decide how to broach the subject without ruining my chances of adopting this cat.

I picked my moment carefully and we had a good chat about it. Ben was up for visiting the family and meeting the cat too and seeing how things went. Well, I may as well not have been there as the cat was so affectionate towards Ben it was unreal! She sat on his lap straight away and was really happy to be with him. We also had another complication that had cropped up since my first visit. We had just found out that we were expecting our first baby!

This is when I started questioning my gut feel. All along it had felt as if everything was aligned and meant to be. To have a client meeting lead to us finding a new cat in our lives was just so random but I love going with the flow of things and seeing where they take you.

We didn’t let our recent news change the potential of adopting the cat. However as we were planning to move house, and the family trip they had planned wasn’t for another 6 months or so, we agreed to have a think and maybe plan to do it in the Spring/Summer 2020.

Of course then the Coronavirus happened! Which changed many people’s life plans! This is when further doubt began to set in. We were having a baby and was it sensible to get a new cat when you have a newborn on the way? Also, how would she settle in? Would she go running off because she missed her old family? Of course I shared concerns with family and friends and the more I did this, the more I felt distanced from my initial gut instinct (which was that this was meant to be and we should go for it).

If Ben hadn’t been so confident that we could do it, I think I would have backed out of adopting her. I would have taken the more selfish route and thought about myself, my fears and jumped to conclusions about how it wouldn’t have worked out. I would have seen the negatives instead of the positives. Like the fact that we couldn’t go on holidays whenever we wanted with a cat to think about. Or that I might worry about the baby with a cat around. Or that the cat may run away and then it would be my responsibility to tell the previous owners I had lost their cat! All things that haven’t even happened yet and are totally irrational.

What I can conclude though, is this. That the minute you allow other people to hear your fears and concerns, you start to limit yourself. You start to make decisions based on other people’s expectations of you. I had people say to me that I was crazy to be getting a cat we were about to have a newborn. The truth is I probably am crazy! But I love that about myself. Something else I need to write about is how I don’t want to be a ‘normal mum’. I don’t want to live in the shadow of the expectations the world has got for me with respect to motherhood. As hard as it is, I like to be controversial at times and take my own path. I do struggle with what others think of my decisions, but ultimately, making my own decisions feels powerful.

So as you can guess, we adopted Pennie the cat. And it was literally the best decision! We are so happy and she is such a joy to have around. She is the perfect balance of being playful and crazy, along with being loving and affectionate. I think I see a lot of myself in her actually (see, I am crazy!). As I write this, she is sat on the window sill napping next to me (she won’t leave me alone since I am about a week away from giving birth - she is my protector).

I remember being so sad when Mimsy passed away. I was so excited for her to be on our journey of starting a family together. Mimsy had sat on my tummy for the first time ever (she was originally Ben’s cat so he got more of the love from her!) just before she passed away and it turns out I would have been just a couple of weeks pregnant at that point. I am sure she knew before we did and I will always cherish that memory. I was so looking forward to having her sit on my bump and meet our baby, but it obviously wasn’t meant to be (she had a heart condition and sadly left us at just 2 and a half years old).

But to have the joy of a cat in our house again is just wonderful. It has also allowed us to reminisce and share stories about Mimsy and keep her memory alive which is so special to me.

My overriding feeling is that following your gut instinct is the best thing to do! Others will always have opinions on decisions in your life, but ultimately it is your life to live and following your intuition can bring magical moments into your life.

Jennie, With Love xx