It was November 2020, nine months after 24-year-old Carolina Avendano began living by herself, and eight months after her city Calgary, Canada, entered into a lockdown that shut schools and most businesses. She was utterly alone. The pandemic restrictions meant she couldn’t visit her sister despite living in the same city.
The prolonged isolation had caught Avendano in a crisis that she had largely kept to herself. Outwardly, she was the model of productivity—living independently, working two tutoring jobs, volunteering online, while completing a double degree in math and education. But inside, she had never felt more lost and empty.
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