Episode 138
#138 | Your Guide to a Supported and Connected 2025: LGBTQ Allyship, Courage, and Community Guidance
Feeling exhausted by the noise of 2024, yet unsure how to reclaim your energy in 2025?
In this intimate solo episode, Heather shares her deeply personal reflections from a year of grief, boundary-setting, and advocacy, and invites you to begin your own ritual of looking back with compassion. If you’ve felt overwhelmed, under-resourced, or disillusioned by last year’s political, personal, or parenting challenges, you’re not alone.
- Learn how boundary-setting became a vital form of self-preservation and modeling for LGBTQ families.
- Discover Heather’s 3-part reflection ritual for processing a year’s worth of joy and grief with grace.
- Get a sneak peek into what’s coming in 2025 - from meaningful episodes to a private, supportive community space.
Press play to ground yourself, reflect with intention, and start 2025 feeling centered, connected, and far from alone.
Hi, I’m Heather Hester, and I’m so glad you’re here!
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Listen to *NEW* episodes every Tuesday and Friday!
At the heart of my work is a deep commitment to compassion, authenticity, and transformative allyship, especially for those navigating the complexities of parenting LGBTQ+ kids. Through this podcast, speaking, my writing, and the spaces I create, I help people unlearn bias, embrace their full humanity, and foster courageous, compassionate connection.
If you’re in the thick of parenting, allyship, or pioneering a way to lead with love and kindness, I’m here with true, messy, and heart-warming stories, real tools, and grounding support to help you move from fear to fierce, informed action.
Whether you’re listening in, working with me directly, or quietly taking it all in—I see you. And I’m so glad you’re part of this journey.
More Human. More Kind. formerly Just Breathe: Parenting Your LGBTQ Teen explores connection, courage, and community for every concerned parent, mom, or ally navigating fear, grief, and bigotry with hope, resilience, and empathy. Through open-minded education, inclusive parenting guidance, and advocacy for mental health, safety, and a human first approach, we support LGBTQ youth and stand for human rights and social justice. More Human. More Kind. empowers listeners to shift their mindset, embrace activism and allyship, and lead with kindness, healing, and purpose.
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Transcript
I am so happy that you are here.
Speaker A:I hope that you were able to take some time over the past few weeks to literally just breathe, to slow down and to listen to what your body and soul are telling you, to be particular about what you allow into your mind and psyche, as well as into your body and your physical space.
Speaker A:I hope that you found moments of magic and joy, and I hope that you spent just wonderfully fabulous time with your people.
Speaker A:I know this year, more than perhaps prior years, was fraught with layers of maybe anger or disbelief, feeling unseen or unheard, and perhaps being faced with relationships with people that now included an additional barrier.
Speaker A:And so boundaries became very, very important this year.
Speaker A:And whether this was your first attempt at setting a boundary or you're a seasoned pro, my guess this year, this time felt particularly personal.
Speaker A:My hope is that setting a boundary or boundaries gave you the space to take a breath, to recalibrate, or to rejuvenate.
Speaker A: listening to me in January of: Speaker A:How can I prepare myself, my kids, and for me, I keep asking, how can I best show up for you?
Speaker A:What do you need?
Speaker A:What are you worried about?
Speaker A:What resources or support feel the most urgent?
Speaker A:I want you to know that this podcast is not going anywhere.
Speaker A:I will continue to bring you fabulous guests as well as solid resources and recommendations on my solo episodes.
Speaker A:I will continue to mix pertinent political news with ways we can support our LGBTQ kids and friends in this new environment.
Speaker A:At the end of the day, that is what is most important.
Speaker A:The safety of our kids, those we love, and ourselves.
Speaker A:If staying informed and connection with others are both important to you, I want you to know that I started a substack right before the holidays that includes a weekly newsletter covering LGBTQ news, pertinent national news, recommendations for additional new sources, and specific care tips for you and for the LGBTQ people in your life.
Speaker A:When you become part of my paid substack for $8 a month, literally $8, which is like one super fancy Starbucks drink.
Speaker A:You'll also get access to my new private podcast called beyond the Breath, where I'll be answering list listener questions, as well as a private discord channel where you can safely connect with others and with me.
Speaker A:We need a place now more than ever where we can be vulnerable and know that we are not alone.
Speaker A:Come add your beautifully unique voice and energy to a place that will be as nourishing as it is informative.
Speaker A: n the process of surveying my: Speaker A:I started doing this process a few years ago with my friend Mia Moran and her Flow 365 group and it has now become one of my favorite annual rituals.
Speaker A:I'm always amazed when I take a few moments or hours or days this year to reflect and see the celebrations that inevitably get overshadowed by the losses or the failures as we think of them in the moment.
Speaker A:It's a human brain thing, it's just the way our brains work.
Speaker A:But taking this time has given me the chance to see those moments and acknowledge them.
Speaker A: Looking back at: Speaker A:I still miss her every single day, but I also know her spirit is with me and I love that I have grown the capacity to hold that.
Speaker A:Both are true.
Speaker A:I have also been able to celebrate the publication of my first book back in May, to acknowledge all of the hard work and difficult lessons that went into its creation, evolution and birth, to be really proud of myself, to be delighted, to offer something that can help another human being, and to also hold the disappointment that it didn't launch in the way I hoped it would, and again to have the capacity to hold all of these feelings and all of the ones in between.
Speaker A:And I am grateful for my capacity to hold all of what the election disappointment brought, to sit in the discomfort of all of that and know that I needed to set some boundaries, that I needed to take care of myself, that I needed to model all of that for my kids so that they could learn how to do it now, not 30 years from now.
Speaker A: ge you to do your own form of: Speaker A:I always feel like January is kind of a grace period month, so there's no better time than the present to start.
Speaker A:I'm so excited about the episodes that are coming up and that the ones that I've planned for you and I truly look forward to connecting with you on Substack and on the Private Discord.
Speaker A:All of the links you need are in the show notes.
Speaker A:As my friend Kelly Lubeck says, the world needs you.
Speaker A:Well do what you need to do to care for your energy and your soul, and then get back on your feet.
Speaker A:Pay attention, speak up, advocate.
Speaker A:And most of all, do not lose hope.
Speaker A:Until next time.
Speaker A:Remember, you are not alone.
