Dear readers,

I’m so excited to announce that my dear friend Heather is going to be guest blogging on Conscious and Deliberate this week.

Her post will be the first of hopefully several in 2017 as we prepare another, bigger collaboration behind the scenes, which should be unveiled this fall. (!!!)

I met Heather in my MA program in DC in 2012. I remember sitting across the table from her at orientation the first day, admiring her pixie cut, tattoos, and well-chosen outfit, and considering the expression on her face, which seemed to be a mixture of terror and careful nonchalance, which was exactly what I was feeling and hoping to project, respectively. Somehow, deep in my bones, I knew we would be friends.

After repeatedly hounding her to come out for drinks after class, we finally starting becoming friends. A Purity Ring concert at the 9:30 Club in January 2013 solidified the beginning of our beautiful friendship. It was unseasonably warm, enough so that we didn’t need jackets, and I think we both got uncharacteristically drunk listening to that Canadian electronic music duo. A delightful night, and only the first of many just like it, which was followed by moving into a basement apartment together, taking turns cooking each night, wrangling our two dogs, and many-a-time sprawling on each other’s beds lamenting our coursework and the perils of writing theses.

Leaving Heather and DC to come to North Carolina was difficult, to say the least. I felt like I’d found my home there and I’d found my other half in her. You can see that I mentioned her in my very first post here, saying she was “and still is, a fierce, unapologetic force.”

If you’ve ever forged a friendship under trying circumstances, then maybe you know how quickly the friendship forms and how raw and vulnerable you sometimes feel. If you’ve ever had a friend who can finish your sentences and read your thoughts, to whom you don’t have to explain yourself ever, then you know how important the relationship becomes to your well-being.

We’re very different, yet also very much the same. Sometimes we approach problems in the exact same way, and other times, our approaches couldn’t be more different, yet we’ve always seemed to innately understand and respect the other’s approach. We fill in each other’s more muted qualities and cheer on each other’s strengths like perfect complements.

That is a long-winded explanation for why I’m so excited to share her perspective with you on this platform. I’m hoping readers will benefit from a voice different from mine, even though we share many of the same concerns.

Enjoy her post! She’ll be publishing it later this week.