Hi Fam!

Thank you for your patience while I’ve gathered my thoughts during this unusual time in our lives. You’ve probably noticed that I’ve been rather quiet on social media the last few days and that MAED has put a pause on content. In full transparency, I needed the time to focus on my family first and foremost, learn as much as I possibly could about current affairs, and reach out to experts and doctors that I trust. The fact that you come to MAED and my social channels daily to either educate or entertain yourself means a lot to me, and I take the responsibility of providing informational and inspirational content very seriously. When I speak I always want to make sure that I’m coming from a genuine and informed place. 

Currently, many of us feel like we’re living in a big budget, action-packed movie. Some of us feel this whole thing has been blown out of proportion and that people, the world, and the government are overreacting. We’re all entitled to our own opinions.

While I am not a political figure, a doctor, or a psychologist, I can offer this—fear is normal. Personally, I do feel like we are living in a scary movie. Our government is not overreacting; in fact, I feel they have been slow to put action in place. This pandemic and its rapid spread is a severe matter, but it’s a matter that with time, diligence, proactiveness, and responsibility we can move forward from.

Last Thursday night, many cities across the nation asked their residents to stay home and social distance. The idea of this was initially incomprehensible. Socially distance? For how long and to what extent? Still, many of you took the responsibility very seriously and began to self-quarantine. By Monday, many private and public school systems across the country were closed. Sunday night and into Tuesday morning, we saw a new, even more drastic course of action implemented in several states, including New York City and Los Angeles. Bars, theaters, gyms, and restaurants have closed, with some restaurants still offering curbside pick-up or delivery.  While these measures may seem extreme, it’s my opinion they’re necessary to drive the point home of lessening social interaction and subsequently “flattening the curve” of this virus spreading. Staying home is the most effective and responsible action we can take right now, so let’s do our part!

Let’s Talk Shopping

Grocery shopping, that is. In the last few days, there’s been a global panic to head to your local grocery store and buy everything you can. This is a major no-no. When you are visiting your grocery stores, please purchase just enough to get you by for ten or a maximum of fourteen days. Hoarding necessities far beyond your needs put others in a desperate state. For example, I’ve spoken to mothers who cannot find clean water for their children or formula and diapers for their babies. The idea of walking into a grocery store in need of formula to feed my child only to be faced with empty shelves keeps me up at night. Please shop with consideration and with your neighbors, your fellow mamas, the elderly, and those who are sick in mind.

I also want to talk about shopping because let’s face it—we’re bored, we’re nervous, and our love of shopping doesn’t die just because we aren’t out and about! 

Since it will be a while before any of us actually step into a physical store, do your part as a member of your community and shop from your local stores online. Many of us also follow smaller online brands that sell their own branded products or follow community sites like MAED who sell a curated edit of products, through their digital shops! Don’t forget to use your purchase power to buy from those resources as well. Small businesses are hurting right now, so let’s do what we can to help them during this “pause.”

No Kidding Around

I have so much I want to say in terms of your children and yourself during this self-quarantine, but will go more in-depth on that later this week. For now, I want to share this excerpt from a letter I wrote to the parents of my daughter’s school last Thursday.

“According to CNN, more than 20 million school lunches are distributed for free each day, and with schools being closed, parents are asking themselves, ‘How will my child eat?’

Please consider taking five minutes of your time to Google a food bank in a city of your choice (where schools are closed) and make a donation. No donation is ever small! 

I can’t imagine going to bed, wondering how my babies were going to eat the next day? Could you?”

I’m asking each of you to please help keep the food banks in your city funded so they can continue to feed both children and the elderly. It takes no more than five minutes to Google your local food bank organization and process a donation. If everyone who reads this letter donated only five dollars, we could still make an enormous impact. So if you can spare it, please do. 

For those of us with littles at home, I ask this sincerely: how are you? If you’ve already been driven B-A-N-A-N-A-S, know you’re not alone! If my five-year-old asked for a snack one more time yesterday, my mind may have exploded. I am so confused how she comes home every day from school with a barely-eaten lunch, but on the first day of quarantine, begs for something to eat every 20 minutes! Life is upside down in my house, but we are fortunate that our children are home with us and healthy. Mamas, do what you can to keep things easy; do not hold onto mom guilt. In this situation, the easiest, simplest way is the best way to hold onto your sanity.

Keep snacks simple too—make a smoothie, spread some almond butter over a piece of toast and layer some sliced strawberries on top, etc. Think healthy but quick! Limit the amount of processed sugar your child is having because before you know it, they will be jumping off the walls and we all know the come down is real!

When it comes to keeping them busy, opt for both physical and mentally challenging activities. Now is the time to break out that 100-piece Lego box they got for their birthday but you hid in the pantry. Pull out a jump rope and have a contest with your little. While I don’t believe we should sit our children in front of the TV for twelve hours straight, I do understand that television is a way to get a short break. Try to minimize your child’s screen time. Use screens during a time of day when you desperately need it in order to get something significant done, i.e. taking a conference call or finishing a report your boss is waiting on. However, if you need to do something like prep dinner or fold laundry, have your kiddos help out to keep them active and involved!

Staying Healthy & Boosting Your Immunity

Lastly, I wanted to touch on immunity. I know many of you are concerned with how to keep yourself and your children healthy and are curious about which steps I’m taking for myself and my loved ones. Our family is absolutely supplementing and taking natural herbs to boost our immunity that our integrated medicine doctor, Dr. Drew Francis, suggested for us. We are upping our intake of vegetables and staying away from cow’s milk, eggs, and gluten. We also reached out to one of our personal medical advisors, Dr. Alejandro Junger, creator of The Clean Program, to ask him how we could support immunity right now. Ironically, he told us that something that he is personally doing is drinking an increased amount of celery juice because of the antiviral properties in celery. How extremely coincidental! It is believed that the salt found in celery fights viruses and kills off viral overgrowth, and because celery has a unique bioavailable Vitamin C, it’s able to boost your immunity instantly. So if you have not joined us for MAED’s 30 Day Celery Juice Challenge, now is the time! 

I hope that you found this letter helpful and informative. Team MAED and I are moving as swiftly as possible to get content on the site to support you all. We want to remain a source of information, inspiration, and entertainment for you, especially during this confusing, anxiety-provoking time. We will continue with our Women’s Month campaign celebrating Women Who Made It, because women should be celebrated every day, no matter the circumstances. You will also continue to see previously planned partnerships that I’ve had in place before the Coronavirus outbreak. Working with these brands not only allows me to share products and programs that I love and enjoy using, but to also create content for our community. Your continued support means a lot to my team and me.

Before I go, I wanted to remind everyone that this is a very sensitive time for all of us. Please remember to be kind, use your words selectively, be patient (especially with the kids at home. Wink!), think about your neighbor, check in on your friends, reach out to your family members, and ask people if they need help. Let’s take this uncertain time and use it to change our level of consciousness and to come together and support each other. 

So grateful for our little community! Keeping you all in my prayers and thoughts.

xxDV