Virtual Vitamins are the digital counterpart to the vitamins we ingest with our food as supplements.

Here are 3 steps to ensure you are taking your virtual vitamins daily:

1. Take inventory. Look at the social media accounts that you follow online and see what you’re being tapped into on a daily basis. Observe how you are feeling when you look at your social media? Are you feeling drained? Are you feeling inspired?

2. Do a virtual cleanse. There is so much power in the images we see everyday, it’s important to switch up the frequency. Every now and then cleanse your virtual online space. Unfollow those accounts that are not up to date or posting inspiring things for you to get your juices going. You are in control of your virtual reality. You’ll be amazed when you delete some accounts, how other accounts that you are aligned with will suddenly come to the forefront.

3. Keep the accounts you are aligned with. The accounts that you follow should reflect what you want to see. This will get your day going in a positive direction because in the morning when you scroll you will be reminded of your joy and light by the images you see.

When I gave birth to my son, I not only became a mother, but a mother without a mother. At the age of 55 my mother died of breast cancer. It was an aggressive strain, and after living cancer-free for more than 20 years, it returned spreading aggressively to her lungs and then her brain. After the double mastectomy we thought for sure it was the end of the cancer. Only for the cancer to return a year later taking her life and mine too soon. Losing your mother when you are becoming a mother can feel like your compass is gone; lost. Grief can be a constant trigger. I had to learn to redirect my mind.

I have my moments where I am mourning all what might have been with her. Watching my child grow I am suddenly in the role of who I need the most but who is no longer around. Grief has a way of reminding me of all the questions I didn’t get to ask. Questions about the symptoms I’m feeling or how she felt at __ weeks pregnant. Or what her delivery experience was like in comparison to mine.  I’ll never get to have those conversations but despite the unknowing, pain has a way of leading to transformation. 

Through motherhood I transformed from a wounded daughter into a healing mother. I made the choice to be a happy mother and I wanted to be greater than my grief. I tapped into all the great mother energy around me – those with children and those without. From my mother in law, great-grandma, my sister, even ChiChi – my female bulldog, some friends and co-workers and my doula, I had all this great maternal energy to tap into. I absorbed it all. I honored their wisdom, while at the same time I created a space for my own mothering to grow. Some people do certain things in their family because their mom did it. Well when it comes to mothering without a mother, I didn’t have that so instead I chose to see the beauty in creating new family traditions.