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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is to have virtual lunches without of town friends

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Speaker 1: and family. A virtual lunch is a great way to

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Speaker 1: stay connected without adding any complexity to your schedule. It

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Speaker 1: will create an energizing change of focus during a busy

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Speaker 1: work day after way too much virtual everything. During twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty and twenty twenty one, many people were ready to

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Speaker 1: ditch zoom for personal get togethers and when it comes

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Speaker 1: to meaningful connection with the people we love. Nothing beats

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Speaker 1: meeting face to face, but when locations and schedules make

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Speaker 1: in person get togethers few and far between, virtual get

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Speaker 1: togethers can be a great alternative. Virtual lunches, in particular,

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Speaker 1: are an excellent option for starters. You can build someone

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Speaker 1: you don't see all that much into your regular rotation.

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Speaker 1: A college friend who lives across the country you can

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Speaker 1: have lunch once or twice a month. A dear elderly

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Speaker 1: aunt who is mostly housebound. You are seeing her on

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Speaker 1: an average Tuesday. As we all know from pandemic times,

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Speaker 1: seeing someone on a computer screen is not quite the

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Speaker 1: same as in person but it's not terrible either. Our

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Speaker 1: brains don't really distinguish between the two all that well,

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Speaker 1: so you will get some of that sense of close

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Speaker 1: interaction even if you aren't actually in the same place.

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Speaker 1: Another benefit as that you are getting the socialization of lunch,

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Speaker 1: likely without the extra time or money costs. You can

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Speaker 1: brown bag your lunch or just eat luftovers at home,

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Speaker 1: but still make the lunch feel special and as anyone

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Speaker 1: with a short lunch break knows, going to a restaurant,

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Speaker 1: especially if you have to drive and park and waiting

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Speaker 1: for your food and waiting for your check, can eat

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Speaker 1: up a lot of time, which means you might not

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Speaker 1: do such things regularly. But even if you only get

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Speaker 1: thirty to forty five minutes for lunch, you can be

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Speaker 1: social virtually, even on busy work days. An added bonus

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Speaker 1: is that catching up with a friend or relative over

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Speaker 1: lunch provides a great change of pace. You are going

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Speaker 1: to stop working to eat at some point, so you

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Speaker 1: may as well do something that will add to your

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Speaker 1: energy levels. So pick a d eight a time and

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Speaker 1: a platform, perhaps FaceTime or Zoom or anything like that,

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Speaker 1: and then protect the time just as you would for

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Speaker 1: an in person lunch. When the time comes, grab your

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Speaker 1: brown bag lunch and close your office door, or find

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Speaker 1: a quiet corner of your building, or just sit in

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Speaker 1: your car and settle in for a good chat. As

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Speaker 1: with an in person gathering. If you enjoy your virtual lunch,

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Speaker 1: you should aim to make it a recurring event. Find

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Speaker 1: a time that generally works for you and your lunch body,

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Speaker 1: and get it on both your calendars. Perhaps the second

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Speaker 1: Thursday of the month at twelve thirty Eastern. You know

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Speaker 1: you and your college roommate will FaceTime. No tedious correspondence.

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Speaker 1: To find a time that works, You just choose a

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Speaker 1: recurring time once and then schedule around it. Of course,

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Speaker 1: sometimes you will have to adjust it, but if that

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Speaker 1: monthly call at a particular time is your default, it

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Speaker 1: will happen more often than not. As friendship expert Shasta

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Speaker 1: Nelson reminds us, frequency is fundamental to relationships. When you

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Speaker 1: talk with your virtual lunch buddies regularly, you will find

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Speaker 1: yourself getting closer. You'll know the basics of what is

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Speaker 1: going on in each other's lives, so you can talk

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Speaker 1: more about how you are feeling or questions you're grappling

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Speaker 1: with book or movie or recipe recommendations, and the myriad

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Speaker 1: deep and light things you talk about with people you

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Speaker 1: see often. You won't have to remind them of your

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Speaker 1: partner's name and your kids ages, or your boss's difficult quirks.

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Speaker 1: They know all of that already, so you can launch

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Speaker 1: right in to whatever is on your mind. Virtual lunches

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Speaker 1: are a great way to add connection to your days

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Speaker 1: without having to give up work time or family time,

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Speaker 1: and without having to spend time in transit. So if

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Speaker 1: you want to deepen your relationships with loved ones far

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Speaker 1: and near this year, consider whether virtual lunches might work

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Speaker 1: for you. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,

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Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

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Speaker 1: That's b the number for Than Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled

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Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I

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Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the

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Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

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Speaker 1: favorite shows.