'Black-ish' Star Tracee Ellis Ross Reveals What She's Doing During Quarantine

Tracee Ellis Ross is aware that being forced to remain indoors for social distancing measures is “absolutely not” a vacation and she is doing what she can to adjust to her new lifestyle.

The “Black-ish” actress and creator of the spinoff “Mixed-ish” understands that it “ takes time and adjustment to living life in this very different way,” but also wants to ensure she remains productive.

“Every day, I make a list of two things I need to get done and other things that I would like to get done,” she told the Wall Street Journal.

She’s had to come to terms with the overwhelming bouts of anxiety that she frequently experiences surrounding COVID-19 concerns and learning how to put things in perspective. Her plan is to “meet these feelings” with a Buddhist mindset “of sorts.”

“We’re all experiencing the loss of things we take for granted,” she said. “For some people it’s big things, like health and livelihood and for others, the losses are smaller.”

Working out is another compromise Ellis Ross is learning to make. She was previously an avid exerciser and would “sometimes forgo sleep to fit exercise in,” but has had to make adjustments and tell herself that it’s ok to “not live at that speed right now.”

“I’m doing a virtual workout twice a week and then I have a more meditative, yoga workout that happens once a week,” she said. “Anything I’m doing has to be gentle and bring me joy.”

What’s the one bright side to her new routine? Ellis Ross has more time for some of the simple pleasures in her life that normally — as an executive producer on various projects and running her own hair care line, “Pattern Beauty” — she doesn’t have time for. She’s been able to cook, clean and listen to audiobooks.

“I’m currently listening to 'Untamed' by Glennon Doyle and 'The H-Spot' by Jill Filipovic,” she said. “I’ve also been going back to David Sedaris who is my old favorite. The past couple of nights, I’ve been lying in bed listening to 'Me Talk Pretty One Day' and laughing hysterically.”