Time to get Back to Business | COVID REFLECTION

SUBMITTED BY ROCHELLE ROBINSON

It’s been said that when you’re distracted from work, it takes, on average, about 25 minutes to refocus and get back to the task at hand. Well…

Near the end of 2019, a friend and I had been working on a new project. It was to be a fun endeavor, something that incorporated our love for fashion and a desire to share that love, style, and fashion tips with others. We spent weeks developing and naming our goals at what we called our “sip and scheme” meetings, enjoying the process as we went. Our goals were to pilot our venture with our close friends and family and hope that this would help to get us on the radar and generate a small client base.  

At the end of February 2020, I celebrated my 62nd birthday while continuing to set new goals for the year, excited for what they would bring.Then the ball dropped. A few weeks after my birthday, the news about COVID-19 came and was immediately followed by shelter-in-place orders. 

Talk about a distraction.

My goals screeched to a halt. Suddenly my focus was usurped by all that COVID-19 could muster. Death, sorrow, frustration, disbelief... I pivoted to the news like a horse to water, thirsty for information and hope. So stuck was I by what was happening to my community, my world, that I lost track of my objectives, of time, of my damn joy.    

In the past few weeks I’ve weaned myself from the countless hours watching CNN and MSNBC.  I realized how engulfed I’d become, ingesting so much hurt and pain and anxiety. I am slowly reacquainting with my goals just in time for 2021. I have been distracted long enough. Time to get back to business.