Litigation Support is one of those careers where a simple thing like a lunch break may seem unobtainable. There are many of us that have trouble taking a lunch break on a particular day. There are others that will take the time to grab some food, but then bring it back to their desk and eat it while they continue to work. Another group will bring lunch from home with the intention of making sure that lunch is included in the day. Believe or not, they may or may not pull out the lunch and eat it.
Those that have worked with me will remember many days where I felt like I couldn't leave my desk to take a lunch break. These same team members will also remember the days where I gave someone money to pick up some lunch for me, but then the food would sit on my desk for hours uneaten. I couldn't find 15 minutes to stop and eat lunch. I felt like the work expectations were non-stop.
Most of the time, we have every intention of taking a lunch break but we keep putting it off. We tell ourselves, "just 30 more minutes and then I'll take a break". Next thing we know, it's 3:00 in the afternoon. At that point, many food establishments in the city have run out of food or are in the process of cleaning up and preparing to close at 4:00 PM.
There is another scenario where we have definite plans for a lunch break and just as we are about to leave our desk, someone walks in to our office and needs some support or the phone rings with someone on the other end of the phone who needs our help. It can be difficult to plan lunch dates with a litigation support professional. There are many cancellations and it is an understanding among those in our industry.
There is an expectation that we are always available to provide support. Some colleagues are considerate of our attempts to take a lunch break while others don't have any problem interrupting or delaying our lunch attempts. The funny thing is, even if we are successful in getting away from our desk to go get food, we are constantly monitoring e-mail from our phone to make sure incoming requests are handled in a timely fashion. Inevitably, we can have the impression that it is safe to leave the office for a lunch break and then all hell breaks loose while we are gone.
I know there are some individuals that are much better at making sure they take their lunch break. It is a mindset thing for sure. I might even admit that I am jealous of those people. Ha! The advice I would give is that anytime you have the opportunity to take a lunch break, do it!
I remember a few days here and there where I would insist that my team stop working so that we could take a lunch break together. Some of those lunches were the most fun as we sat around a table together, laughing, and forgetting about the workload for a short period of time. I think that having that short break was refreshing and got us through the rest of the busy afternoon.
Take it from me -- Treat yourself to lunch once in a while. You deserve it.
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