Lerita Coleman Brown was my roommate at my first Wild Goose Festival. We’d never met before that gathering in rural North Carolina, but we were assigned to share a small bedroom with two twin beds. When I woke violently ill the morning we were both scheduled to speak, there was no way for me to disguise my distress. I was fairly new to public speaking and deeply embarrassed to be so vulnerable in front of a far more experienced speaker, scholar, and teacher.
But Lerita said she was all too familiar with what she saw in me—she’d also had the experience of doing too much and not slowing down to listen to her body’s needs. She recognized before I did that I was overcommitted and overwhelmed. She gently reminded me of the necessity for rest and ease and told me to stay in for the day and sleep. She would cover anything she could on my behalf.
“Spirit gets what Spirit wants, so you might as well listen,” she said, sitting on the bed across from me. So, I listened, stayed back, and rested.
