June Prompts for Lunchtime Martinis

8 prompts for when it's boring (and unproductive) to be on your best behavior

Jun 03, 2025

During the last two months I've been home about four days, and my time has involved a lot of: work calls in hotel rooms at 1am, re-purchasing the same Uniqlo underwear in various countries (as a write-off), blowing out outlets across three continents, and having, generally, a very nice time in the company of interesting and smart people.

I've been thinking about the side effects of releasing the pressure valve. It's easy to get stuck; the current temperature also makes it feel especially, existentially irresponsible (and/or, a Tr*** supporter?) to be one who…goes with the flow.

Alas, this month's prompts are about temporary rebellion. The spaces between who you are vs. who you think you’re supposed to be. About considering a brief interval of loosening the reins. A little low-stakes chaos. Consuming something with no nutritional value and…liking it!

I'm not suggesting you stop reading fiction and instead get a neck tattoo, or that you burn down your life, and/or (worse) buy a salted caramel-flavored lip gloss on TikTok shop because I almost just did. I am suggesting you do something sneaky. Relocate something good, loose, free.

Getting closer to your own edge is to see the ways your personality isn’t fixed; everything is in flux. What I resist is mostly a question in itself.

Do weigh in with your favorite vice of the month.

Love,
LP

June Prompts for Lunchtime Martinis

1. FRENCH EXIT

What's been your most elegant way of saying no lately?

2. PRIVATE LUXURY

Make a list of the small, specific things that felt indulgent this month. Things that probably wouldn't register as special to anyone else but made you feel momentarily rich: a hotel pillow with a crisp, cool cotton pillowcase. Choosing to photograph a peony. Looking in the mirror and swiping on blush (or doing anything where you instantly change your appearance by 2% but it feels powerful). The weight of a good pen. Seeing a rainbow?

3. LUNCHTIME MARTINI

When did you do something mildly scandalous in broad daylight?

4. LET ME LIVE

A friend told me about how she went to Paris and came back with a few boxes of elegant, slim cigarettes (which she would ideally, aspirationally reveal at future parties and be admired for). But before she could light the first one, her 12-year-old daughter found them, and (indoctrinated by said mother of the evils of smoking), threw them all in the trash.

What's your version of cigs in the garbage? When you think about reveling in a vice…who (or what) is the voice in your head that stops you?

5. PLAYING WITH HOUSE MONEY

What have you bought recently for ONLY the thrill of it?

6. UNDER THE TABLE

ASMR YouTube videos. Buying a $90 candle. Photographing your breakfast. Re-reading old texts and realizing you are…brilliant?!

What small indulgence(s) do you keep hidden? Something you do or enjoy that, frankly, is no one else’s business.

7. SLIDING DOORS

Admit an alternate version of your life you sometimes imagine yourself experiencing.

8. GROSS HABIT

I just watched someone walking barefoot on the plane from their seat to the bathroom. What's something kinda repulsive that you just can't seem to quit?

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