I’m back working in a formal office now after a 2.5 year absence. Yikes! Although I miss my home office desperately (no one thinks you’re crazy there when you get up and start dancing), this new gig has afforded me the opportunity to assess whether or not I can and will break some bad office habits.

Break Time

Here are a few of the big ones I’m working on:

Bad habit #1 – delaying eating lunch until it’s practically time to go home. Happy to report I’ve almost kicked this habit to the curb. I eat a more fulfilling and hot breakfast now so by the time noon rolls around I start to get the rumbly feeling in my belly that I can’t ignore.

Bad habit #2 – dragging out the lunch for so long I don’t actually finish. I’ve sorta broken this one. I eat my lunch but then I snack on fruit for a good hour or so. This is a holdover from working from home where I basically just snacked all day long rather than had a designated meal. I’m not sure I want to break this one as it staves off hunger pangs that can hit when going home. This can result in eating, well, crap for dinner because I just want to eat rather than cook.

Bad habit #3 – staying at my desk all day except to get water and pee (vicious but necessary cycle). Habit kicked!! I go out for a 20-25 minute walk every lunch hour on the nice weather days; for inclement weather I eat in the kitchen by the large windows overlooking a nice park below.

Bad habit #4 – never taking a break. I’d say this one is in-progress. As a hired consultant, I always feel the pressure to always be working and not be seen as slacking and this included taking time for lunch. This is really hard on a person physically and emotionally but it’s only as I’ve grown older that I’m willing to admit just how hard. So I take brief breaks throughout the day for a little chit chat, maybe work related or maybe not, and I take a lunch hour. This is so new too me but I think I can sustain this approach and break this bad habit. I’m worth it, right?

Reading through these is it any wonder “take a break” is my internal mantra every day? My goal is to get to a time when I don’t have to tell myself this and when I don’t feel any guilt twinges for doing so.

Break time – it’s starting to take on a different hue for me now.