On How To Take a Long Lunch

  1. It can’t be inside the place where you work. You must leave the office for this to count.

  2. You have to eat good food. Sometimes good food is that BBQ spot with all of the sauces in plastic squirt bottles. Other times good food is expensive salad that is worth every effin penny because no salad I have ever made tastes like that. Long lunches are about taste. Eat the things that make you feel good.

  3. Good company. A long lunch with yourself where you eat and then read at the table is acceptable. But it can’t be emails. Otherwise, meet with a coworker or a friend that you never see but works in the same neighborhood.

  4. Make space for venting, but leave plenty of room for storytelling and hope sharing.

  5. Walk back to work slowly. Take the long route on the drive. Do any and everything to stretch out your time.

Melinda Barbosa