How has the Coronavirus changed your life?

I run a co-working space, so it’s changed pretty drastically. We’re in the business of congregating people. We’ve been very lucky in that we’ve set up a pretty lean business so we haven’t had to let anyone go. Everybody just works from home.

We’ve heard of companies that just aren’t able to withstand the damages, so they’ve closed or let people go. That’s been really heartbreaking because I know what it takes to build a business. To put everything you have into it. So it’s painful to watch companies close. Those founders invested a lot and believed in the work that they were doing. Now they can’t sustain themselves. That’s really hard to think about. And it’s happening at a massive scale—even with tech companies. Some of the bigger tech companies that we know of here have scaled down to 90% of their team. Those are humans. Those are lives. Those are people who have families.

“People who are living paycheck to paycheck. That’s really painful to watch.

We keep saying we’re all in this together, and it still rings true, but we’re also seeing a disparity in suffering. Our society isn’t set up to support, gig workers who make their ends meet by making deliveries or driving for Uber—people who are living paycheck to paycheck. That’s really painful to watch. There’s a layer of anxiety over everybody right now. It’s a weird time to be in. I go back and forth between feeling really overwhelmed with the weight of everything, of all the businesses that we care for. Not just the ones in our space, but also in our greater community, our city and our states across the nation.

“There’s a layer of anxiety over everybody right now. It’s a weird time to be in.

So I try to channel my energy in a positive direction—in having mental health days and being okay with sitting at home, doing nothing or going outside with my daughter. It’s such a gift. Before this all happened, I would tell my husband I wish that I had one more day where the entire world would stop and I could just catch up. The world has given us almost four weeks of that now and I feel like we haven’t been able to fully take advantage of that. And I feel like a jerk for being able to say that because there are people who will never be able to really take advantage of something like that. It’s such a luxury problem. So there’s a back and forth and I’m coming back to understanding the simple things that I can do right now for positive impact.