Don’t let the day’s buzz drown you
I’m passionate about mornings. Guess that’s something odd to hear. But yes, I am passionate about early mornings, and it’s not even about the sun rising or the coffee brewing. It’s simply about kick-starting a new day; another chance to live, set goals and be part of this world.
It has dawned on me that the older you get, the more you become aware of the simple things in life. For me, it’s the mere fact of getting up early before everyone else — before the buzz of the world begins, literally, per our messenger and email alerts. All seems to be so peaceful and quiet in the mornings, and for a moment, we forget the responsibilities and all the errands we need to do that day.
In the morning, the mind is calm and still, which is the exact opposite of the chaos it becomes at night. Maybe it has something to do with what I believe is our brain’s automatic reset in the mornings, the one that tells us that today is another chance to try to get things right.
However, at the end of the day, I mostly find myself not having done the ambitions and plans of the early mornings. It’s sad how the mornings set the mood and goals, but the rest of the day just doesn’t work out that way.
Procrastination, they often call it. Sometimes it goes by the name “busy.” But I guess the reason why most of our days don’t turn out the way we initially planned them to be is simply because, after the calm and stillness, we eventually get whisked into the chaos and buzz. There comes the dealing with people and the endless matters to take care of, and soon enough we find ourselves in survival mode — simply wanting to finish the day and get things done.
The day drags on and we forget about what we really wanted to do. For me, it’s mostly about the simple things like finishing a novel I’ve been putting off, continuing thousands of writing drafts, getting my planner decorated, contacting friends who have recently crossed my mind, randomly baking and setting plans to visit new restaurants, among so many more.
The list is definitely a junkyard of random thoughts, but that’s exactly how the mind works especially when it’s calm—it tends to remind us of the little things at the back of our heads. Most of the time, those little things are what we truly want to prioritize but just don’t have the time or luxury to do so.
In an effort to try to “pull myself together,” as the common expression goes, I have decided to try to the best of my abilities to listen to the stillness of the mind and what it wants me to do within the day. Is it to write more? Read more? Binge-watch more? Be a good employee more? I don’t know, it’s always random. How the human brain works, let alone my own, I would never understand.
As I finish writing this, when I close my laptop and continue the day, only then will I find out if I had allowed the chaos to come in or if the stillness would remain. I lead a busy life, and so do most of us. We constantly have to be bothered by stress and worries that leave us so little time to listen to our subconscious thoughts. But the call is simply for us to not be fully immersed in anything that turns our heads chaotic.
We need to detach a little sometimes and breathe, whether it’s in the early mornings or whenever. For once, we need the world to do its own thing as we try to sort ours in the corner. In the end, we will eventually go back in the game, but we always need a breather to function properly. We need time to get our priorities straight and our self intact.
Let me write, read and think for a while, world. Just a little while in the early mornings, when all is still quiet and peaceful — until it no longer is.
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Victoria Harris, 20, is from Angeles City, Pampanga. She recently graduated from the Holy Angel University and was editor in chief of its official student publication, The Angelite. She now works as an English teacher.
