Eating Here or Takeaway?

The auntie asks, "Eat here or takeaway?" It's dinner time and you are strolling through the food court wandering what to have for dinner. You decided to have Korean food since the weather is quite cold today.

The thought of "eating here" may not have crossed our minds before, but if it had, it felt odd and somewhat uncomfortable. There's this constant fear of being judged when you eat alone in food courts. It's like a social taboo that nobody dares to infringe upon. And in our minds, people who break those rules are the eccentric kids in school that nobody talks to.

Maybe it's time to shed those negative stereotypes of eating alone in public spaces, after all, we are not in secondary school anymore. Eating alone is not just for eccentric kids, it is for anyone who is looking for some alone time away from any stresses or distractions.

Eating here is about disconnecting and re-connecting with yourself. In this day and age we spend a lot of our time cooped up in our home or office with our devices. We live in an information age where we are constantly processing information. Enormous gigabytes of content are constantly uploaded online. Think about how much information we process each day? It is roughly 34gb according to the New York Times article in 2009 on the data consumption of Americans. It could have grown even more since half a decade has passed!

Source: Aci.info

When you are eating alone at the food court you are away from distraction and stresses, like your computer, your boss or family members. You may want to turn off your phone as well. By disconnecting from technology, you create a distraction-free time to organize your thoughts and reflect on your life or work. You will find that there is greater clarity during this time. Many great ideas and important decisions will come from these thinking sessions and it's a common strategy used by famous people like Beyonce, Roger Federer and Richard Branson.

It's about being courageous as well. It takes courage to overcome the fear of eating alone. Dinner has traditionally been a communal activity since centuries ago, but eating is an individual experience. As humans are social beings, we built social experiences around simple activities such as eating. That's why it takes immense courage to break past the social norm to eat alone.

If you want to read more on eating alone you can check out the sites below:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/01/in-defense-of-eating-alone.html
http://elitedaily.com/life/im-lonely-im-alone-people-eat-alone-happier/845951/