Dear friends,

“Choosing courage over comfort.”

Those were the words shared with me recently on a regular call with a friend in Memphis — a man who holds courage in his powerful paintings depicting the history of the Black experience in America. His work does not look away. It names what is painful. It refuses amnesia.

Those words have stayed with me.

Choosing courage over comfort feels like a precise description of the walk I find myself in right now — alongside millions of people around the world — as we navigate the release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein and his network of the rich and powerful.

As an aspiring Matriarch, I think often about radical self-care. About nurturing life within myself. About protecting my nervous system. The comfort of tending my inner world has given me strength for many responsibilities. And yet, there is also a pull to stay in that comfort — to not look too closely at what is being revealed.

Today, dear ones, I am asking us — those who have the resources and energy — to choose courage.

This invitation is for people of all genders. And I am taking these steps, tenderly,  with you.

Step One: Access the records.

If you choose to review the Department of Justice materials, do so with care. Gather support around you. Pick a time when you can recover afterward — a walk outside, time with a trusted friend, a session with a therapist. The material is heavy. It should be approached intentionally.

It is also important to know: names of powerful individuals have often been redacted, while the names of survivors — many of them children — have not always been given the same protection. This reality alone requires discernment and compassion as you read.

Step Two: Trust your deepest knowing.

Consider the young people in your life — those who, based on your intuition and experience, may have felt unprotected or vulnerable. Remember that the greatest risks often come through familiar access points. Vulnerability is rarely random.

Then, search the names of those individuals you have, in your lifetime, quietly sensed to be unwell. The ones whose energy never sat right. The ones your body responded to before your mind could explain why.

Pause here.

If you do not find those names in the records, keep your list. Store it somewhere you will remember.

Our intuition is not perfect — but it is data. It gives us enough information to ask questions:

• Who is currently vulnerable in this person’s vicinity?

• What conversations could be opened?

• What small steps could confirm or clarify your concern?

• And most importantly — what action could protect those at risk?

The release of these documents is not just about a distant network in New York, Florida, or the Bahamas. It is an opportunity to understand how networks of harm localize in every community, across every identity and class.

This past week, I discovered at least two individuals connected to those files from the small community where I live on the Central Coast of California. Nowhere near the headlines. And yet — there they were.

We cannot pretend this is far away.

Step Three: Examine adjacency and endorsement.

If your list is composed only of men, I invite you to also search the names of women connected to them — wives, business partners, longtime friends.

I say this with compassion and clarity: proximity can become endorsement. Sometimes women are abusers themselves. Sometimes they are silent protectors of harm. Sometimes they are survivors navigating impossible circumstances.

But we must reckon with the power of adjacency.

I have been listening carefully to the public statements of spouses as more information emerges. They know their partners in ways the public does not. Spouses are experts on wellness and unwellness inside their homes.

Make no mistake — proximity brings awareness.

There is extraordinary power when women stand next to predators. And there is extraordinary power when women turn their backs and name what is true.

Dear friends, I am inviting us to move — tenderly but firmly — from comfort to courage.

To stand shoulder to shoulder.

To name what is harmful.

To ask for explanation.

To demand accountability.

To protect the vulnerable.

To insist on criminal prosecution of predators and accomplices alike.

This is not a partisan issue. This is not left or right. This is about networks of coercion and control that distort governance, economics, healthcare, bodily autonomy, and the basic safety of our children.

It is about power.

And whether we will continue to look away.

To the survivors of sexual harm — I see you.

To those who love survivors — I am asking you to stand with us.

To those who have long felt something was not right — trust that knowing.

Let me know you are there.

Let me know we can do this together.

I can see it.

Can you?

With courage and care,

Maija