What Your Body Is Telling You: Holiday Care for LGBTQ+ Parents and Allies

Are you an LGBTQ+ parent, ally, or advocate feeling exhausted by the emotional and logistical weight of the holiday season?

You’re not alone. Many parents and caregivers, especially those supporting LGBTQ youth, enter this time of year overwhelmed, overextended, and overstimulated, unsure how to protect their own peace while showing up for others.

In this powerful solo reflection, Heather Hester invites you to rethink everything you’ve been told about self-care.

Forget the candles and curated routines. This episode explores what your nervous system actually needs to feel safe, grounded, and connected, especially as an LGBTQ+ parent or ally navigating complex family dynamics, grief, or societal pressure.

You’ll discover:

• Why traditional “self-care” often fails LGBTQ+ parents and moms
• How to recognize which type of rest you really need (emotional? sensory? social?)
• The biological and emotional reasons this season feels harder and how to shift it
• How rest, boundaries, and breathwork become tools of love, empathy, and inclusion

What if your rest and regulation were a form of allyship?

When you, as a parent or advocate, honor your limits, you create a safer emotional space for your LGBTQ child or loved one. You model softness, stability, and trust just by being more human and more kind.

In this episode, Heather offers:

• A science-backed 1-minute breath technique to lower stress (no meditation required)
• A breakdown of the 4 emotional “seasons” and how to align your care with each one
• A practical guide to identifying your rhythm: motion, depletion, or recovery
• Gentle encouragement to release perfection, guilt, and performance-based love

Breathe with us. Then take one tiny, tangible step toward true rest. Listen now and rediscover the allyship that starts within.

Hi, I’m Heather Hester, and I’m so glad you’re here!

Become a private client

Attend Friday Reflection LIVE on Substack - guided journaling and Q&A

Invite me to speak at your workshop or event

Receive a free excerpt and reflection guide from my book, Parenting with Pride.

Share More Human. More Kind. Please subscribe, rate, and review!

Connect heather@heatherhester.net

Watch on YouTube

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 is a safe and supportive podcast and space where a mom and mental health advocate offers guidance on parenting with empathy, inclusion, and open-minded allyship, fostering growth, healing, and empowerment within the LGBTQ community—including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals—while addressing grief, boundaries, education, diversity, human rights, gender identity, sexual orientation, social justice, and the power of human kindness through a lens of ally support and community engagement.