Many of my friends do not have outside employment. They rely on
gigs and freelance or contract income, and I'm feeling for them
right now. Been there, and suddenly not having that work is a struggle I fully understand. At the moment, I'm relieved that I
decided to re-join the regular workforce a few years back, and was lucky to
find something in a music-related industry. I also realize how lucky I am to have something steady to return to, once this current threat has lifted.
But here we are, at least for a while. As of yesterday, my place of work has shut down, for who knows how long. As I had already been placed on hiatus a week ago, today marks the day I became eligible to apply for unemployment insurance, and I took care of that this morning. Massachusetts has its act together, thankfully. The online process was straightforward, and as long as the layoff is temporary due to the Covid-19 situation, there are no job-hunt searches and reports required each week.
As long as the system approves my application (and there's no reason for them not to), I'll be able to get my first check next week. And then I'll be able to put what I can of it back into the local economy. Life goes on.
Be safe, be well, be creative.
