What’s most important to you right now? 

Consistency and family. When the rest of the world is so uncertain, it helps to find rhythm and consistency in your daily life– it has saved our sanity right now.

What was most important to you before you had to social distance? 

Family for sure has always been number one. 

What’s the first thing you’ll do when this is over? 

Go back to the office. I don’t have the freedom to separate my home life and work life [right now]. You’re not just a mom, a wife, a professional, you are all those things and you have to constantly be all those things, but in the real world you have the ability to delineate who you are from moment to moment. When you’re stuck at home, you have to be everything all at once, and that can be incredibly overwhelming. 

What are you doing to pass the time? 

I work an average of about 50-60 hours a week and I work that schedule whether I’m in quarantine or not. For me the only time I can shut off my brain is after my son goes to bed and I play digital jigsaw puzzles. That moment of complete focus is the only thing that can keep me from feeling like the 25,000 tabs that are open on a web browser that is my brain, can take a break.

What makes you happy right now?

Watching my son grow up. When you’re a working mom, there are so many things that you miss. I would have missed him crawling for the first time, sitting up, discovering his hands, and laughing. He’s growing, and I would have missed all of those little moments had I not been with him 24/7. 

What would you tell yourself two months ago with the knowledge you have today? 

Be prepared for the unknown and ride the wave. We aren’t going to know what happens next. You can’t plan right now. You can’t plan in times like this. Waves are going to keep coming and they’re going to keep crashing and tumbling and you’re going to have to find your way back up to the surface. You always will, but sometimes you have to sort of let that wave come and tumble around until you can get back to the top. 

[My biggest lesson has been] patience with the unknown. There’s a lot of anxiety around being ill-prepared or under resourced both in your professional and personal life. If I could just know that that is okay, then I think the anxiety of everything that’s happening would be so much easier. I mean, that and a Xanax. 

Also don’t hoard toilet paper. 

Hilary R-Laguna Niguel

DAY 32