00:00:02.370 - 00:01:40.890

I've been invited to participate in this project by my friend Emily Strime. COVID-19 has impacted me as someone living with a chronic disease. I have Crohn's disease, and I am currently in remission, but I'm also on a immunosuppressing medication. So this time, it's definitely a little scary. It gives me a lot more anxiety as someone who's in the high risk category, if I were to get COVID-19 it's possible that I would have more serious illness. I mean, I don't know for certain but I am just trying to do everything that I can to not get it and hope that everyone around me in this community stays home and is as safe as possible. It's definitely harder for some more than others. I've also had to take a pay cut at my job, our organization has been experiencing a lot more financial difficulties during this time. It was definitely something that I was not expecting. It definitely makes this situation harder. I know that a lot of other people have lost their jobs or have taken a pay cut or reduced their hours which has, in turn affected their income. It's just also hard being a young professional living in DC where the cost of living is much higher than in other places.

00:01:43.020 - 00:03:32.950

On a more positive side, though, because of COVID-19 I've definitely been able to connect with old friends and family members in new ways like using FaceTime or zoom or just calling them more. It's definitely brought me back together with a lot of people and connection is important during this time. I'm definitely getting through this time through my co-workers, my roommate, those family and friends that I'm reconnecting with and also my cat. But I before all this started, I had been going to Shabbat services at Sixth and I more frequently and so the virtual Shabbat services that I'm able to watch have definitely been really helpful during this time to, you know, help unwind at the end of the week and really tried to divide, time. Time is just a construct now. Days and weeks are blending together. It's hard to turn off from work when you're in the same place all the time. So I have definitely found that to be incredibly useful. And I am really grateful that they continue to do that. And I'm really grateful for everyone who is helping me get through this time. And if there's one thing I hope that we can learn during this time, it's that everyone is valuable and no one is disposable. Everyone plays a really important role in this world no matter what.

00:03:35.380 - 00:04:17.410

And we all need to respect each other during this time, and I hope when we all come out on the other side that that continues to happen and just that, it's so important to think of, think of everyone and this experience is probably unlike any other that we may experience in our lives, hopefully. Who knows, but it's just really important that everyone is respected and everyone is valuable and no one is disposable.