As a society, we have normalized the hustle culture. Sleepless nights and endless study hours have become a new normal for many students across the globe. Bombarded by the constant Canvas notifications and the dreams we hope to achieve, it pushes us to work harder and harder every day. As I’ve slowly become a workaholic through my time in college and more of my time gets filled with work assignments and internship applications, I have really started to appreciate the routine and mundane parts of life. 

No matter where you look, we are surrounded by people pushing for success and working countless hours to do so. Social media’s biggest influencers are the ones who live an extravagant life with new opportunities every day. These influencers go above and beyond and the result is the thousands of viewers who idolize this lifestyle and view it as “success.” By platforming and idolizing this on-the-go lifestyle, we have created a negative connotation around the idea of a mundane lifestyle, but there is beauty that comes with living a mundane lifestyle.

As a student in college, I find that I rarely have free time. My time is filled with school work and talks of my future and it often gets overwhelming. When I face those anxieties and feelings of constant chaos, the little things in my life bring me back to Earth. 

I live a very routine lifestyle. I wake up every day at the same time, eat the same breakfast, go to the same classes, and see the same people. I follow the same nightly routine of surrounding myself in warm lighting and cozying up in bed watching my favorite podcast. Sometimes it gets boring, and I yearn for some change but I’ve grown to appreciate the simplicity in my daily life.  

Each and every day, I wake up and get the same things done. While I may not be doing anything extraordinary or achieving insane amounts of success in my day to day life, each day I wake up and go to school is one day closer to fulfilling my dreams. 

By starting to appreciate the little and routine moments in life, I’ve noticed how present I’ve been. I’m not constantly chasing my next adventure, but fulfilling the one I’m currently on. My life may be slow moving, but I have more time to take in and absorb the things happening right now instead of being blinded by the future possibilities. 

I am not ashamed to say my life is mundane and quite boring, but I’ve really grown to love it. I love my night time sweet treat, and my early morning relaxation time. I don’t have to switch things up everyday or chase an extraordinary life. There is beauty in routine and there is comfort in the ordinary. 

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