Started taking my actual lunch break every day and apparently that's a personality trait now
Two years at this job i ate at my desk every single day. Everyone did. Nobody told me to, it was just the vibe, so i just. did it too without really questioning it.
Six weeks ago i stopped. Started going outside for thirty minutes, sometimes a walk, sometimes just sitting on a bench not looking at a screen. Thirty minutes. Which is a legal break that i am entitled to and have always been entitled to.
The way people have reacted you'd think i started leaving for a three hour lunch.
One coworker asked where i disappear to every day with this tone like she was genuinely concerned. My manager hasn't said anything directly but there's a specific look i get when i come back, just a quick glance at the time, nothing said. Someone last week said "must be nice to have time for that" which is an interesting thing to say about thirty minutes outside.
The actual work stuff is fine. My output hasn't gone down, i hit the same deadlines, nothing has suffered. I'm just slightly less miserable at 3pm than i used to be which feels like a good thing.
I don't know when eating at your desk every day became the default expectation but i did it for two years without anyone asking me to becuase everyone else was doing it and i didn't think about it. Now i take the break i'm legally allowed and it's somehow a thing people notice.
Anyway. Go outside at lunch. It's fine. Nothing bad happens.