Ramadan Reflections - I Think I Can

In Ramadan you really discover a lot about yourself. 
If you were not good all year round, then in Ramadan your force yourself to at least try. You pretend - at best to be good. This taught me two things:

1. Being good isn't hard, it just requires will power - inner drive and consistency. Like the choo-choo train, it kept saying, "I think I can, I think I can." Thinking is believing, and when you can get yourself so convinced that u start believing ur goals, then it becomes easy to achieve them.

2. If I can pretend to do something, although I have never done it before and become really good at it then it mustn't be very hard? Suppose I was not praying my sunnah and nafil all year long. I wasn't making any duaas or adhkaar consistently. But suddenly in Ramadan I forced myself and I did it..this means I can actually these things, its not impossible. So I am not really a bad Muslim per say, am just a lazy Muslim. I assume failure in coming close to Allah before even trying.

The following are tips for effective Ramadan planning:

1. Set out rules or duties within the limits of your time. If you are working 9-5 or at school, plan to recite a few extra pages of Qur'an than usual for u hit the road. Even if your Tajweed is so horrible, it makes ur ears bleed. Stand half an hour for Taraweeh - it won't kill u. No one ever cried from standing too long. Just repeat, "I think I can, I think I can." What makes people cry however, is the Qur'an, when they realize how meaningful and soul-stirring is Allah's kalaam.
Before iftaar sit alone by urself and pour out ur heart (in duaa). I know we assume that there is nothing to ask but think about all ur problems, everything u ever wanted, whatever ur grateful for, anything that makes ur upset - this is the time to talk to Allah.

2. Stay calm and do not get carried away when are running out of time - assignments are pilling up, family is angry because u are not around as much. This is the only month we get from Allah as grace period - if we were lacking , misbehaving, avoiding ibadaah, then now is when we can catch up. Your body will get by on less sleep just as it gets used to eating less food. The headaches will compromise, the world will move on. So u should not move back. Ramadan is the time u step closer to Allah, to the purification of ur soul, to making ur Hereafter a better place than ur world. Thats the purpose of life anyway. So you aren't really sacrificing anything, u are doing what u should be doing in the first place.