Started this a few Fridays back – decided I’d eat lunch alone at my desk instead of joining the usual group in the break room, just once a week to start. Nothing dramatic, no big announcement, I just said I had emails to catch up on the first time and nobody really questioned it.
It’s been steady since then. Same spot by the window, headphones in but nothing playing half the time. The first Friday felt kind of rude, not gonna lie, but by the second one it felt more like a reset before the afternoon push. My job doesn’t really let up quarter to quarter, and by lunch I’m usually running on fumes from the commute and the morning meetings, so having that one stretch where nobody’s talking to me has made the rest of the day easier to get through, honestly a bigger relief than I expected!
One coworker did ask if everything’s okay, which caught me off guard a little (I just said I was fine, needed some quiet). Keeping it to one day a week for now – not trying to pull away from everyone, just wanted a small buffer somewhere in the week.