I can't fix all the world's problems, but I can scrub my floor. That's something.

When I was laid off in early 2020, shortly before COVID-19 would metastasize into a pandemic, I did what millions of other Americans soon would do: I began job-hunting. I emailed my network of former colleagues and professional contacts. I filtered listings on LinkedIn and other job sites. I updated my resume. Within a few weeks, after landing one-off freelance projects from precisely two clients and then nothing, I knew what else I had to do: I got down on my hands and knees and scoured our bathroom floor.