What’s all the fuss about October in South Africa? Everyone is run off their feet, sweating the small stuff, breathing heavily, jumping hula hoops. Somehow October seems to be the ‘red flag’ of months, where stress indicators fly off the charts, as we beat our deadline drums and rush around the clock in a frazzled fiasco to December.
From school obligations to deadlines and daily admin, we’re on the clock. But who’s clock is it anyway? Our own. And we’re wasting it on too many ‘to-do’s’ and not enough ‘to-be’s’. This is why I take lunch. I believe in the lunchbreak, the whole lunchbreak and nothing but the lunchbreak.
October is World Mental Health Month, and it’s a time I take quite seriously. It’s a chance for us to become acutely more aware of our pauses in between the rush of the day, and a time we can use the breaks we take effectively – to improve our mental game.
To fully appreciate this idea of ‘lunchtime’, one must first understand that lunchtime is a time for lunch. Not working, not texting, not catching up. Actual lunch. And usually, it lasts for an hour. A ritual that was shaped by the Industrial Revolution in the 19th Century – which, in context, was a super stressful period. Labour laws back then already recognised the importance of ‘taking the lunch break’. Today, we praise busyness as a multitasking gap of eating on the run, snacking at the computer, munching in our cars, or watching our kid’s soccer game with one eye on our laptops, the other on the field and on Whatsapp - all while unconsciously consuming a take-away salad, dangling from your fork. By every stretch of the imagination, this is not what the Industrial Revolution had in mind – and neither should we.
My take on lunchtime is quite simply this: if done correctly it will have long-term effects. If done incorrectly, it will have long-term effects. The end. Depending on how you take your lunchtime each day will render the effect either negative or positive – for the long haul. The negative side of lunchtime is when we use this space for making that obligatory call, checking a few emails, doing groceries, planning out the school week, working through lunch (the worst!). All that thinking kind of stuff. Basically, this is just a series of gap fillers that becomes a toxic admin hole, rather than a pause for purpose.
The positive side of lunchtime is a method of ‘Lunchtime Mindfulness’ – a method I have been using for years, to combat my own stress indicators. Lunch for me, doesn’t have to be just about the food we eat, but also, it can include one of anything that constitutes a mindful pause in the busy day - one dish, one garden or one really good daytime series. Whether you’re tucking into a wholesome dish during lunch, or weeding the garden or tuning into your favourite soap opera for an hour, start to pay mind to it.
Improving your wellness is about choosing the positive side of ‘busy’ and reestablishing a conscious connection with your lunchtime. When we appreciate that our minds and bodies are ours to love and to lunch-with, we start to believe we’re worthy of the lunch break. By extension, we make space for rituals that are ours to keep - and at the very best, ours to sustain through our busiest periods. Here are three of my favourite lunchtime rituals, to snack on:
Lunchtime Cooking:
Mindfulness in the kitchen can start with your preparation of a simple, fresh lunchtime salad: focussing your attention on washing the tomatoes, slicing the fresh cucumber, crumbling the feta, then sitting down in a quiet space and eating it, one conscious bite at a time. This is a mindful practice that requires no special technique nor added pressure - just slower movements with intended outcomes, done and dusted in one hour. My All Sorts of One Dish Wonders were pretty much built on this exact concept - cooking with more mind and less fuss. It works.
Lunchtime with Nature:
Mindful lunching can include gardening too. I believe in getting out into nature, feeling the grass under your feet. Taking your lunch under a tree, or watering your plants is a wonderful way of reconnecting you to the little things that matter. And if you can’t get into a garden, go for a walk around the neighbourhood instead. Magic!
Lunchtime Series:
As for my daytime series ritual, this works for me too. Switching off my busy mind, and jumping into a rerun of CSI, gets me out of my head and into a ‘no-mind’ setting. Turning off the world outside and diving into an hour of clue-crunching is a form of escapism that needs no extra thinking – which is a welcome relief from the to-do list.
The truth remains, we all have the same 24 hours in the day, it’s up to us to break the cycle of chaos and choose betterment instead. Whatever lunchtime represents for you – take it. Take it with love and choose its desired effect.
For a new take on everything flair without the fuss, pick up a copy of Chantal’s "All Sorts" Cookbook Series – All Sorts of One Dish Wonders, All Sorts of Salads, All Sorts of Tapas, All Sorts of Healthy Dishes, as well as her latest book The Ultimate Salad Book - available at leading retailers, and online as e-books. Follow Chantal on social media for more cooking tips and inspiration.
For more on Chantal, visit https://chantallascaris.co.za/.
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