🌸 Episode Recap: “The Power of the Small Jar” 🌸

In this heartfelt and inspiring conversation, Melissa sits down with Jennifer, master life coach and founder of The Small Jar, to explore the beautiful yet complex transition that many moms face when their teens and young adults begin stepping into independence. 💫

Jennifer shares her personal journey — from a life-changing moment on 9/11 to finding her true calling in helping mothers rediscover themselves during the “empty nest straddle” period. Together, Melissa and Jennifer unpack how curiosity, compassion, and authentic communication can rebuild deeper connections with our children while honoring our own evolution. 🕊️

From navigating identity shifts to embracing new passions and redefining what fulfillment looks like, this episode is a soulful invitation to slow down, reflect, and remember that it’s not about how big your world is… it’s about how deeplyyou live within it. 🌷

🎧 Tune in for powerful reminders that healing, growth, and connection start from within — one small jar at a time.

Free Gift: Sign up for my next free masterclass: https://www.thesmalljar.com/class.

Offers:

Quantum Life Mastery School: https://amplifyimpactacademy.com/quantum-life-mastery-school

Introduction video about Girls Matter: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R3-xqzJLZW14om1PhFClcU_oRSZ8zgip/view

The Light Circle Membership:

https://amplifyimpactacademy.com/thelightcircle-aligned-core

Meet Your Unconscious Mind Workshop:

https://amplifyimpactacademy.com/um

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Episode Summary:

Jennifer's background and expertise @ 02:25

Melissa introduces Jennifer as a master life coach and founder of The Small Jar, who empowers moms of teens and young adults to navigate the challenges of their children gaining independence.

Jennifer's personal journey to this work @ 04:08

Jennifer shares how her own experiences as a mom, including a pivotal moment on 9/11, led her to pursue coaching and develop programs to help other moms through the emotional ups and downs of the "empty nest straddle" period.

Helping moms reconnect with teens @ 08:31

Melissa and Jennifer discuss strategies for moms to rebuild connection and understanding with their teenage or young adult children, including the importance of empathy, curiosity, and not trying to force change.

Navigating the empty nest transition @ 23:47

They explore the different ways the empty nest experience can look for different women, the importance of not comparing oneself to others, and the opportunity to rediscover oneself and one's passions during this life stage.

The power of a "small jar" mindset @ 34:10

Jennifer shares the story behind the name of her business, The Small Jar, and how it represents the value of cultivating deep, intentional connections rather than a large network.

Closing thoughts and next steps @ 39:36

Jennifer emphasizes the importance of getting curious and honest with oneself, rather than waiting for external solutions or permission. She invites the audience to her free monthly masterclass and shares ways to connect with her.

About the Guest:

Jennifer Collins is a Master Life Coach and Founder of The Small Jar. She empowers moms of teens and young adults to release the anxiety of holding on and embrace the freedom of letting their children soar—while rediscovering themselves in the process. 

Through her signature program, Mom 2.0, Jennifer helps women break free from the anxiety, frustration, and sadness that moms experience as their kids seek independence. The program empowers moms to navigate the heartbreak of kids pulling away, set boundaries that actually work, and create peace and connection without needing their kid to change. Jennifer equips moms with practical tools to shift their mindset, reclaim confidence, and step into a life of purpose and joy beyond motherhood.

Jennifer is also the creator and host of The Almost Empty Nest Podcast, where she shares stories and strategies to help women approach this transitional stage of motherhood with clarity and courage. As the mom of two college-aged sons, she knows firsthand the mix of pride, loss, and possibility this chapter brings—and she is passionate about helping women see it as the beginning of their most meaningful chapter yet.

Contacts:

www.thesmalljar.com

[email protected]

https://www.facebook.com/smalljarcoach

https://www.instagram.com/smalljarcoach

Questions:

Topic: How to go from disconnection and estrangement with your teen or adult kid to creating a powerful relationship that will last.

1. Teens and adult kids can behave in ways that seem inexcusable. But at the same time, we often create stories about the meaning of our kids' behavior that only amplifies our pain and feelings of disconnection.

2. You are entitled to feel hurt and angry about your kids' behavior but reacting from these emotions also doesn't improve the relationship. 

3. We often think boundaries are about getting others to change, but they're really about how we choose to respond.

4. We can turn to traditional therapy for solutions - I'll share why these solutions often let us down and hold us back from moving forward in our relationships.

About the Host:

Melissa is an Integrative Health Practitioner and a Board Designated Master Trainer of Hypnotherapy, Trainer of NLP, Time Line Therapy®, and NLP Results Coaching, helping people get to the root cause of their health issues and then get lasting results. Melissa neither diagnoses nor cures but helps bring your body back into balance by helping discover your “toxic load” and then removing the toxins. Melissa offers functional medicine lab testing that helps you “see inside” to know exactly what is going on, and then provides a personalized wellness protocol using natural herbs and supplements.  Melissa’s business is 100% virtual – the lab tests are mailed directly to your home and she specializes in holding your hand and guiding the way to healing so that you don’t have to figure it all out on your own.

Melissa has launched Amplify Impact Academy, with business partner, Billie Aadmi and together they train other coaches, practitioners and counsellors in the 4 mind-body healing modalities mentioned above, giving them powerful tools to use with clients to get results with greater ease, speed and grace. These courses teach life skills and anyone can take them, if you want to be a better leader, parent, partner, be empowered in your own life, these courses are for you!

Melissa’s passion project is her non-profit, Girls Matter (www.girlsmatter.ca), breaking the poverty cycle 1 girl, 1 family, 1 village at a time.  The mission is to keep girls in school and stop teenage marriages, because school isn’t free in over 50 countries around the world and when parents have to make the difficult choices of feeding their kids or paying for school, food wins. And when the girls hit their teen years, they will often be married off so that someone else becomes responsible to feed them. Keeping girls in school instead creates a generational ripple effect, because an educated girl is more than twice as likely to ensure her own children are educated. Educating girls also grows the GDP of countries, when they get into the workforce. This is how together, we can change the world. Guests on this podcast are invited to donate to this important cause.  Learn more here in this short video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R3-xqzJLZW14om1PhFClcU_oRSZ8zgip/view?usp=share_link 

Melissa is also the winner of the 2024 Women in Podcasting Awards in the “inspiration & motivation” category and the 2021 & 2022 Quality Care Award by Business From The Heart and is also the recipient of the Alignable “Local Business Person of the Year “Award 2022, 2023 & 2024 for Whistler.

Melissa has been featured at a number of Health & Wellness Summits, such as the Health, Wealth & Wisdom Summit, The Power To Profit Summit, The Feel Fan-freaking-tas-tic Summit, the Aim Higher Summit and many more!  She has also guested on over 90 different podcasts teaching people about the importance of prioritizing our health and how to get started.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/yourguidedhealthjourney

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