Just Breathe: Parenting Your LGBTQ Teen

In this episode, Heather Hester discusses the importance of self-care. While massages, mani/pedis, time with friends, and exercise are all beautiful self-care strategies, Heather uses this episode to dive deep into the "whys" and "hows" of a well-rounded self-care plan. She talks about aligning the following areas:

Physical Health

Fitness

Relationships

Career

Finances

Mental Health

Spirituality

Self-care is important for everyone but can be especially valuable during difficult or uncertain times. Heather discusses how self-care became vitally important as she and her husband supported Connor as he struggled with anxiety and depression as well as impulse control and dangerous behavior. She learned that she had to separate herself enough so that every minute wasn't a crisis, and sometimes remove herself altogether to refill her cup so to speak.

Essentially, self-care is putting on your own oxygen mask before you assist those around you - you can only help others when you are the best version of yourself!

I would be so grateful if you would subscribe to, rate, and review Just Breathe. AND, as always, please share with anyone who needs to know they are not alone!

​Connect with Heather:

Solutions listed on her website: https://chrysalismama.com

For the Language of LGBTQIA+ E-book, visit: https://learnwith.chrysalismama.com/book

Digital Coming Out Course for Parents - Text Ally to 55444 to get Heather's "My kid just came out and I'm freaking out!" Toolkit!

Please subscribe to, rate, and review Just Breathe. And, as always, please share with anyone who needs to know they are not alone!

Support Heather's Work: https://linktr.ee/chrysalismama

In this episode of Just Breathe: Parenting Your LGBTQ Teen, Heather talks about the six stages that parents go through when their child comes out to them as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or any other sexual orientation or gender identity.

The stages are shock, denial, guilt, expression of feelings, making decisions, and true acceptance. She explains each clearly and without judgment, weaving her own stories throughout. This episode provides insight and tools to help you through your process and on your journey!

We hope you enjoy this episode as you work through your own stages! Hit subscribe to get new episodes right away!

Connect with Heather:

Join the Just Breathe Community on Patreon

Give a copy of Heather's new book, Parenting with Pride.

Join Heather's *free* Substack weekly newsletter

Work with Heather one-on-one or bring her into your organization to speak or run a workshop!

Please subscribe to, rate, and review Just Breathe. And, as always, please share with anyone who needs to know they are not alone!

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Email: [email protected]

Not many have the privilege of knowing who they are from the start. For most of us, life is a journey of reflection and self-discovery. Jessie Kanzer, actress and reporter turned author, joins us today to share her journey as a Russian Immigrant feeling lost in an alien world to her discovery of the Tao Te Ching that set her on the path to becoming the person she is meant to be. Listen to her grounding message that will not only benefit each of us personally but our loved ones as well.

Do not miss these highlights:

02:10 - A look into Jessie’s book, Don't Just Sit There, DO NOTHING: Healing, Chilling, and Living with the Tao Te Ching, and an explanation of what Tao Te Ching is about.

6:21 - How these teaching influenced her coming from an “achievement-based” culture

9:05 - Connecting and trusting your inner voice and begin listening to our intuition, especially when it comes to parenting our children

14:55 - Realizing that stepping into our awareness requires vulnerability and that authenticity does not come in a form of perfection

17:22 - Jessie summarizes the Tao Te Ching to three concepts; simplicity, patience, compassion

23:15 - A look at how losing your identity can be a gift to find yourself again.

28:07 - A discussion about labels and the hindrance they bring to self-discovery

32:12 - The importance of helping our children to fully understand what they are feeling and put a name to it.

36:05 - “When somebody else questions their identity, it almost becomes a mirror. And if you have never faced the nuances within yourself, including nuanced emotions, that is very uncomfortable.”

39:33 - How The Tao can cure you of perfectionism

41:11 - The importance of embracing stillness

About the Guest:

Jessie Kanzer was born in the Soviet Union. At the age of eight, she emigrated with her family to Brooklyn. She is a writer, former reporter and actress.

For years, Jessie felt like a failure, unable to hustle hard enough to "make it" either as an actress or in the rat race. Her childhood as a Russian immigrant in post-Cold War America heightened her insecurity and threatened her identity, desperate as she was to fit into a culture that was alien at best and hostile at worst. This loss and eventual reclamation of her sense of self sent her on a spiritual journey during which she discovered the Tao Te Ching, which changes everything for her. The Tao taught her that there was power in stillness and that all struggles come bearing gifts if you know how to recognize them. Her message will connect with listeners desperate to find grounding as we move into a new year filled with trepidation and no guarantees of a return to normalcy.

https://www.facebook.com/JessieKanzer

https://instagram.com/jessiekanzer

https://twitter.com/jessiekanzer

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI0_lGiZPq31VJ5w7hg7NuA

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessiekanzer/

Connect with Heather:

Join the Just Breathe Community on Patreon

Give a copy of Heather's new book, Parenting with Pride.

Join Heather's *free* Substack weekly newsletter

Work with Heather one-on-one or bring her into your organization to speak or run a workshop!

Please subscribe to, rate, and review Just Breathe. And, as always, please share with anyone who needs to know they are not alone!

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