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I'm trying to claw back a little bit of the humanity that's being sucked out of me at work.

First priority is my health. I tried to find OSHA guidelines w/r/t the proper ratio of sitting vs. moving at work, and didn't find much --- most of their material related to sitting seemed to be about chairs and posture. I found a CDC report that suggests moving around for 5 minutes after 20 minutes of sitting, but I looked for that specific report and I can't find it again. Another thing from the Mayo clinic said 5 minutes of walking for every 30 minutes of sitting.

Neither of these systems make nice round numbers, so I figured it'd be best to split the difference and do 5 minutes of walking for 25 minutes of sitting; but because I'm anxious that this amount of activity would be noticed, I doubled it to 10 minutes of walking per 50 minutes of sitting (in addition to whatever standing/walking I do using the copier, getting printouts, going to the bathroom, etc. Which depending on the day might not be that often.)

A couple weeks ago, I noted:

I believe if I arrive at work and roll a natural 20 on my saving throw, my boss should be obliged to send me home with pay

Well, I'm taking that idea and turning it into a motivational game. Every time I get up for one of my 10 minute breaks, I'll roll the die. If I get a 20, I'll engage in a little time theft and do something nice for myself.

As for today, I didn't roll any 20s, but I did follow the 50-10 plan, and I feel pretty good. I have more energy, although that probably has more to do with actually remembering to take my second caffeine dose as it was approaching quitting time. But I felt better and less hopeless during the day, too. I doubt anyone even noticed I was getting up more than usual, so I'm optimistic about this plan.

None of this is by the book. I only get two paid 15-minute breaks and one unpaid 30-minute lunch break. But I figure only getting up once per hour and only taking an "extended bathroom break" 5% of the time is subtle enough to fly under the radar. And if anyone does say anything about my hourly breaks, I'll drop a phone book-sized stack of CDC reports on their desk detailing all the risks of prolonged sitting, show them my list of health problems, and like an Atari Jaguar spokesperson, invite them to do the math.

And the 20:1 plan... well, that can be our little secret. But hey, if I roll a natural 20, I deserve to have something good happen. Them's the rules 🦝