Riposo - Your Lunch Break But Way Better
Italy 🇮🇹
Imagine heading out the door to your lunch break for the day, but instead of an hour, you get two or even four hours. If you run a shop, you close.
You can now meet with friends, slow down, enjoy some food, close your eyes for twenty minutes and put your feet up.
After that, you go back to work and finish out your day. You reopen your store and complete the rest of your to-do list. You feel rested and have a full stomach.
How rad is this? This is what Italians do.
When I worked in retail, I got a thirty-minute lunch break. Thirty minutes is barely enough time to get food, let alone eat it. In fact, for most of my lunch breaks, I wouldn’t even sit down. I would stand in the backroom and eat while I kept working.
Lame!
Italians understand that humans naturally slow down in the afternoon and then get another round of energy later in the day/early evening, so they’ve intelligently worked this into their culture.
“This traditional early afternoon shutdown varies from business to business but usually lasts about 90 minutes to two hours. It may begin anywhere from noon and 1:30 pm and run until anywhere from 2:30 to 4 pm.” - reidsitaly.com
Isn’t this annoying when you want to run errands, and things are closed?
Well, not really. You get used to it and plan your days around it when you live there.
“Once you have gotten used to the idea that the working day here in Italy is mainly split in two, then it will become really easy to observe riposo and even enjoy it by having a nice snooze at home, getting together with friends and family or other such relaxing activities.” - Rossiwrites.com
I don’t know about you, but I am game for this! I always slow down in the afternoon but get a burst of energy in the evening. Now I can lean into this and call it riposo. Fantastic!
Cryptocurrency
This week Miami has been buzzing with a Bitcoin conference. Most of my colleagues were there, so my writing work slowed down a little—perfect timing since I had family in town.
I spent a few days not staring at my computer screen. It was pretty cool.
I did have a couple of articles published this week, so if you want to get into some crypto articles - head over to Blockster.
Medium
Many of my retail friends are getting their annual raises right now, and it’s pretty sad. Most of them are getting less than a dollar raise. These are career professionals that helped guide their stores through the pandemic.
I’m pretty angry about it, so I wrote this.
Why Retail Stores Will Keep Struggling
For all my Medium articles, subscribe here.
It’s really heating up in SoCal this week. It hit 90 degrees today in my neighborhood. Summer is fast approaching.
Next week I’m getting on board with this riposo schedule. Do the same if you can. A two-hour break mid-day sounds just about right.
Take care out there! Slow down. Stay cool; pour your favorite drink and kick your feet up. Call it riposo, and no one will try to tell you what to do.
Until next time -
Peace,
Kit
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I am now a riposo convert!!! Next it will be a movement! So much better for the body.