Today is the first of Ramadhan, a month in Muslim calendar where all healthy adult Muslim and Muslimah are required to fast. From dawn to dusk, we are prohibited from consuming foods and drinks.

For me, the biggest challenge is caffeine withdrawal. Usually at office I consume two cups of coffee, one in the morning and one after lunch. The caffeine helps me to keep alert and prevent drowsiness. So today was really bad, my eyes felt so heavy. I lost count how many times I ‘accidentally’ fell asleep.

I think tomorrow I should to drink coffee in the morning. As I mentioned before, caffeine will remain active in your body for at least for 4 hours.

Our house also have this roster duty to prepare food for Sahur (early meal before dawn). For me, the trick is to prepare all the raw ingredients the night before. So in the morning I can quickly cook them. It is also a safety measure, because you might injure yourself when you use knife when preparing the ingredients.

Apart from above technicalities, Ramadhan is a month for self reflection and introspection. The teaching is that whoever able to go through Ramadhan “successfully”, he or she will come out as a better person.

As a closing, I pray for all my Muslim brothers and sisters, and myself, hopefully all of us will be “successful” in our Ramadhan and come out as a better person.. Amien.