Back then, I used to equate productivity with constant busyness. My days revolved around ticking items off an endless to-do list, multitasking my way through tasks to accomplish as much as possible in a short amount of time. Slow mornings? To me, those were synonymous with laziness, reserved only for weekends or luxurious holidays at a serene hotel. And even during those rare moments, I’d often feel restless, plagued by guilt for “wasting” time.
The habit of staying perpetually busy had become second nature—an autopilot mode that left me feeling disconnected from the concept of unwinding. I tried, on occasion, to indulge in a slow morning, but my mind would always wander back to what I could be doing instead. Productivity had become my identity, and the thought of slowing down felt foreign, almost wrong.
Then came the pandemic, and the whole world hit the brakes. Suddenly, my packed schedule was wiped clean. Work was on hold, socializing moved to video calls, and for the first time in forever, I was faced with empty days. It was during that strange, uncertain time that I stumbled across videos about mindful living, slow morning, and self-care. And like many others, I was skeptical at first. Could slowing down really make life better? But with nothing else demanding my attention, I figured, why not give it a shot?
