diff --git a/src/task_manager.py b/src/task_manager.py
index e995968..b91da38 100644
--- a/src/task_manager.py
+++ b/src/task_manager.py
@@ -55,9 +55,13 @@ class sublimeWorkerThreadExecutor(concurrent.futures.Executor):
 class Runtime:
     def __init__(self):
         self.tasks = []
-        self.loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
+        self.loop = asyncio.new_event_loop()
         self.loop.set_default_executor(sublimeWorkerThreadExecutor())
         self.loop.set_debug(True)
+        self.thread = threading.Thread(
+            target=self.loop.run_forever, name="codemp-asyncio-loop"
+        )
+        self.thread.start()
 
     def __del__(self):
         logger.debug("closing down the event loop")
@@ -69,16 +73,15 @@ class Runtime:
         except Exception as e:
             logger.error(f"Unexpected crash while shutting down event loop: {e}")
 
-        self.loop.close()
-
-    def start(self):
-        pass
+        self.stop_loop()
+        self.thread.join()
 
     def stop_loop(self):
         self.loop.call_soon_threadsafe(lambda: asyncio.get_running_loop().stop())
+        self.thread.join()
 
-    def block_on(self, fut):
-        return self.loop.run_until_complete(fut)
+    def run_blocking(self, fut, *args, **kwargs):
+        return self.loop.run_in_executor(None, fut, *args, **kwargs)
 
     def dispatch(self, coro, name=None):
         logging.debug("dispatching coroutine...")
@@ -97,7 +100,7 @@ class Runtime:
     def stop_task(self, name):
         task = self.get_task(name)
         if task is not None:
-            self.block_on(self.wait_for_cancel(task))
+            self.dispatch(self.wait_for_cancel(task))
 
     async def wait_for_cancel(self, task):
         task.cancel()  # cancelling a task, merely requests a cancellation.