Rockford's Independent Newspaper

Lucha Cantina: Dealing with this new reality

By Joshua Binning

ROCKFORD – Saying these are interesting times would be an understatement. I can’t imagine anyone has escaped the added stress brought on by the unprecedented situation.

Here’s the thing. It’s not a contest. Getting the most stress certainly doesn’t make you or me any sort of winner. There might be a prize, but that prize probably involves bypass surgery, so I’ll pass on that trophy. That said, I am not going to sit here and say that I am some expert on this. I’ve sat on my couch and cried this week. This is tough stuff. For some of us, our businesses are bing forced into full or partial closure. For others, their jobs are instantly gone and  they have mouths to feed. Again, this is tough stuff.

The following is a list of the five things that I am doing to keep my sanity. If this helps, great. If not, not offense taken.

  1. Prayer, medication yoga–whatever works for you. Find a way to turn it all off for a few minutes. I tried yoga once while my dog sat across the room and laughed at me. I’ll stick with prayer but do what works for you.
  2. You have to move. Get outside for a few minutes. Take a walk. There’s just something about fresh air.
  3. Turn off the TV (or at the very least, change the channel). The talking heads are just talking. Most every day there is a press conference with the president and Dr. Fauci. Watch and try to catch Gov. Pritzker’s press conference. Mayor McNamara  has been holding frequent pressures conferences  as well. Watch these. These are the guys that can actually say things that affect your life. The others just add to your stress.
  4. Don’t blive or share anthing that beings with “I heard” or “I guess” or “They’re saying.” Google things. Facts are great. Everything else will add to your stress.
  5. Focus on what you can do rather than what you can’t do.

So what is Lucha Cantina doing, your might ask? Well, we are trying to adapt to the new rules that took us from a full-service restaurant and bar and made us into a restaurant only selling food curbside. We have put some systems in place to make hit s pain-free experience for our guests as they now find themselves eating at home instead of in restaurants.

While we only have a skeleton crew, the people working know they aren’t just working for their families, but they are also working to keep our small business open for all of their teammates who find themselves on unemployment right now. They will need a place to to come back to after all this is over, and we are doing our best to make them proud.

We are serving our fill menu. Chicken Fajita Tacos and our Moo, Peep, Oink Enchiladas seem to the biggest sellers right  now. We’d love for you to support us in this effort. We are doing curbside 4-8 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and then we’ll be out there 4-9 p.m., Friday and Saturday. I’ll be outside under the big Lucha Cantina tent waiting for you.

If you are looking for other local businesses to support, please check out Winnebago Buy Local  and Rockford Buzz–both online and on Facebook.

For more information and updates for Rockford region tourism/hospitality during the COVID-19 pandemic, visit gorockford.com. 

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