We’ve all heard of thirty-day challenges; from losing unsightly belly flab to cleaning your skin from pores and pimples. Yet for the Muslims, Ramadan is the ultimate month-long journey of spiritual rejuvenation and training. The moment a slice of silver in the sky signals the arrival of the new moon, Muslims around the world get ready for a refreshing schedule change of abstinence and fruit chat.

Personally, Ramadan is a fresh breath of air from the stress and trivialities of an academic life. This is because the month prioritizes the strengthening of mental and spiritual health—which as a student, I can really appreciate. It’s no fun to be drowning under the pressure of assignments, due essays or complicated theorems. However, the peace of mind—the pure clarity—offered by an innocent month like Ramadan is more than I need for a successful year.

Secondly, Ramadan teaches me the sheer miracle the human body is—lasting lengthy periods of time without food or water (with an astounding 20-hour-fast in Oslo, Norway). It proves that resilience really can get one places, especially if one’s mind is set firmly on a goal. Again, this proves to be a subtle lesson Ramadan bequeaths to me in order to help out in my student-life.

Adding to that, abstinence from other social distractions faced by high-school students, like Netflix shows or Instagram, is a default self-improvement mechanism. Why, you’re asking? Only because it directs one’s attention from usually useless time-passers, to activities that makes one feel far better than being seated on a couch, remote and chips bag hand-in-hand. With those things out of the way, one paves a path for perfecting a language or learning a useful skill like programming, or even cooking! (I told you fruit-chat was important)

It’s worthy to note that Ramadan is also a month of patience and virtue. It reminds every Muslim of beautiful values like honesty and kindness. The kind of values one generally (and blamelessly) tends to forget in this cut-throat, unforgiving world. By cultivating these modest characteristics, one’s view of the world and their response to the problems thrown by it becomes infinitely more pliable (and albeit less complicated) Additionally, by reading the Holy Quran, Muslims tend to find a sense of inner peace resonating within them—present just as the beating of the pulsing heart and coursing of the ever-present blood.

At last, Ramadan can’t be discussed without mentioning two words: reviving relations. I’ve already discussed how abstinence and resilience are two major players on the Ramadan team. However, the opportunity the blessed month gives Muslims to rekindle pre-existing family fires, is simply too good to miss! From making pakode with your mother to tolerating tantrums from your brother—Ramadan gives Muslims around the world a chance to dive deeper—to scratch past the surface, and get to know your family better. In a way, this reminds everyone that one truly can’t ever be alone.

Also, it’s the only time of year that my parents allow me to have a date each night of the month :)

All in all, Ramadan is no one-trick-pony. Delicious desserts? Peaceful prayers? Reviving righteousness? This month might just have it all. With just a few weeks till the Holy month, all Muslims wait in excitements for all their dreams—I mean duas—to come true. So get your prayer-mats and pans ready, Ramadan is on its way!

Wishing everyone a blessed Ramadan!