Thank you for your answer to my first question! I went ahead and moved forward with my ideal scenario of giving her 2 options:

1. She needs to have content ready by end of next week and we start the project on the last week of March.
2. I terminate the project and refund her 50% of the non-refundable deposit as a courtesy.

She said she she wouldn’t be able to have content ready until the end of March. I decided to accommodate the new timeline and proposed we start the second week of April. She agreed. I made a note to myself that if she wasn’t able to honor the new timeline, I would then cancel the project and move on.

I received an email from her last night:
“… As anticipated, I got notified yesterday that all LAUSD schools will be closed for a minimum of 2 weeks up to a month, same with my babies daycare. So I have no choice but to keep them both home & be on full time mom duty. Which gives me really no time to work. I’m really bummed but at this time, taking care of the family & safety for the cause feels like priority. This was all not planned for and I don’t want to hold you back with your next client, so I totally understand if you have to skip over me for now and start with their project first if needed.
I’m still committed to working with you and want to invest in updating my website but timing is just not on my side. I’m sorry for any inconveniences this may have caused, and still hoping to get it done within the next few mnths. So let me know what will work best for you as far as scheduling and I’ll make sure to accommodate. Thank you for understanding and look forward to getting this completed!
Prayers for safety & health~!!”

I’m feeling conflicted because it’s not her fault that her children’s schools and daycares have closed down due to the coronavirus. I want to be flexible to her needs and postpone the project to later this year, but I also don’t want to continue this project anymore (I’m moving in another business direction, and had wanted to be done with her website by the end of this month as we had originally planned). Plus, this project has already dragged on, and I felt that I was going into a bit of people-pleasing land by accommodating her with the new timeline (even though I was okay with it).

I want to cancel the project, but I feel guilty and a part of me really wants to help her get her website up and running. If I were to cancel the project, I feel guilty about refunding her 50% of the non-refundable deposit instead of 100% (even though my contract states that the deposit is non-refundable). I did a few models:

UM
C – Option to cancel X’s project
T – I’m letting her down during a difficult time that’s not her fault
F – Guilty
A – Ruminate, think about how to make it a win-win situation, look at where I might fit her in later this year, consider refunding her 100%, feel uncertain that this is the right decision, post question in Ask a Coach, desiring to cancel but feeling like I’m the villain here
R – I let myself down and put myself through a difficult time

IM
C – Option to cancel X’s project
T – Canceling is the right decision for me
F – Peace
A – Respond to email in an empathetic professional manner about my decision to move on, refund her 50% of her deposit, wish her luck, experience the freedom of not having this on my plate, free up mental space to think about other projects that are more meaningful to me, process discomfort
R – I made the right decision

UM
C – Refunding 50% of non-refundable deposit
T – I’m taking her money without delivering anything for her
F – Guilty
A – Second-guess cancelling project, consider refunding 80% or 100%, argue with myself that I don’t need the money anyway and that she probably needs it more as a business owner while I have a stable FT job, think that all of this is unfair for her and the coronavirus happening isn’t her fault so she shouldn’t be punished, think that I’m petty for keeping 50% and that she’ll think so, too
R – I’m taking money from myself (?)

IM
C – Refunding 50% of non-refundable deposit
T – It’s fair and even generous to refund her 50% of a non-refundable deposit
F – Peace
A – Process discomfort, acknowledge all the pre-work I’ve done in helping her set up her content, respond letting her know that I’m issuing this refund out of courtesy to her and that because we haven’t been able to start on our agreed timeline and will have missed the deadline twice now that I have to move on, end on good terms
R – I take care of my client and I take care of myself

A part of me thinks that refunding 50% of a non-refundable deposit isn’t actually fair, and that because I’m the one initiating the refund, it’s as if I’m taking money from her. If she wanted the refund, refunding 50% would feel better for me. I know I need to process the discomfort, but what if refunding her 80% could feel good for both of us? I can’t tell if I’m dishonoring myself or that this would actually be better for the both of us given the unforeseen circumstance of the coronavirus. I want to ask her what would feel good for her, too. I’m feeling especially sensitive during this time towards creative business owners who have lost jobs due to event cancellations, so a part of me thinks it would be charitable to refund more. I’m feeling conflicted all around. Can you help me clear up my thinking?