Mundane Life: A Morning That Slipped Away (And How I’m Slowly Finding My Rhythm)

It’s 9:00 AM, and I’m lying in bed feeling a little stressed and strangely low on energy. The kind of morning where even sitting up feels like a task. My phone is right beside me, so I pick it up almost without thinking—just to check the usual: messages, notifications, Instagram, YouTube. A harmless glance, or so I convince myself.

But “a quick check” never stays quick.

Ten minutes turn into fifteen, and then YouTube pulls me straight into the rabbit hole of Shorts. One video becomes five, five becomes fifty, and before I realise it, I’ve spent 40–45 minutes watching things that vanish from my mind the moment I scroll past them.

Another 15–20 minutes slip away, and suddenly it’s almost 10:00 AM. That quiet punch of guilt lands in my chest.

I finally roll out of bed, freshen up, and head to the kitchen for my morning coffee. That first sip always brings a little clarity — like a small reset button for the morning.

With that bit of energy returning, I open my laptop and check emails, meetings, and any new tasks for the day. Once the work side feels under control, I shift to something that actually makes me feel grounded: studying.

For about an hour, I dive into my data engineering course. It’s the one part of the morning that feels productive, like I’m building something for my future. After studying, I squeeze in a quick 20-minute exercise session — nothing heavy, just enough movement to wake up my body and remind myself I can still show up for my goals.

With work checked, study done, and a little exercise in the bag, it feels like the perfect moment to take a bath. So I do.

And after the bath, I sit down for my daily prayers. This is where the noise of the morning finally quiets down. But it’s also where I realise something important: out of the entire morning, this moment — the one meant for peace and grounding — often gets the least of my time.

And maybe that’s the real reflection for today.

Life becomes mundane not because nothing is happening, but because we give so much of our time away to things that don’t matter, and so little to the things that actually do.