From the base of the mountain, the summit can’t be seen. When you look up you instead see giant glaciers, the remains of bodies who’ve journeyed before you and black vultures which eye you with bloodthirsty anticipation. Glancing eastward, you see a great boulder falling down the mountain, toppled by an invisible but even greater wind. Your mission, for a reason you’re unaware of but doesn’t matter, is to scale the mountain. Looking down, you notice you’re dressed in nothing but shorts and sandals, yet this doesn’t bother you. As you take your first step, the vultures – as if on cue – jet down towards you in a black cloud, screeching in delight…

Beep-beep. Beep-beep. Beep-beep.

The shrill but familiar sound of your alarm forces you back into the world of reality. For a moment, you find yourself stuck halfway between the two worlds – neither here nor there – but after a while, the constant assault of the alarm pulls you out. You stumble out of bed, find the alarm clock across your room and hit the snooze button.

It’s 7am on a Saturday. A day with no scheduled online tutorials, webinars or responsibilities. In other words, a free morning. A day off. Rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, you look down at your desk to find the to-do list you laid out the previous night staring back at you.

Of all the couples at the beach, one clearly stands out as being more in love than the rest. While others complain about the overcast skies and choppy waves, this special couple laughs as they exchange stories about their day, the unmistakable twinkle of love in their eyes. You smile as you hear the hearts of this couple beating in perfect unison, unlike the other couples on the beach. As you turn, a little Indian boy in a green bucket-hat stands in your way, holding a half-eaten pink soft serve towards you. “Wanna buy?” he asks with big, brown eyes and stained lips. “No, thank you.” You reply, smiling and walking past him to an unknown destination. In the distance, you hear the crackling of a thunderstorm and rain begins to fall.

Once again, a rude and intrusive sound forces you out of your dream. You frown as the sound fades, then hear it again. Clang. The sound of metal on a skip bin downstairs. More locally, you hear the sound of a shower running, suggesting your housemate’s awakening, and glance at the time: 10:03am. You somehow napped for another 3 hours. Like a familiar act, you groan, climb out of bed and stare down at the to-do list staring up at you.

“Alright,” you say to yourself. “Even though it’s a weekend, I think we’ve rested enough – let’s get some work done.” As you begin to convince yourself of this plan, another voice chimes in. Look, you’ve worked hard this week – you should give yourself a break. That’s what weekends are for, right? Recharging. Go on, you’ve already wasted 3 hours, just take the rest of the day off. Studying is for nerds.

You hesitate. Your autonomic nervous system seizes this moment to advise you that you’re cold and to go find some warmth, as your pajamas aren’t exactly the best at insulating heat. You look around for some socks to put on but realise your favourite socks are in the washing basket which is unfortunate because your feet are getting very cold. Out of desperation, you dive into the only fast-acting sauna you can find: your bed, still carrying the residual heat from your body. Your lazy voice whispers its approval. Good decision.

You know you can’t stay in bed forever, but while you’re in bed you jot down some of the strange dreams you had that morning. Something about a mountain, vultures… and an Indian kid selling ice-cream? How bizarre. A few moments later, you hear the opening of the bathroom door and decide to finally get up and do your business. You throw on some mediocre socks before you leave your room and go to the toilet, grabbing your phone on the kitchen table on the way. You open your phone to be greeted by an assault of social media and email notifications and as you start going through them whilst brushing your teeth, you take note of the time: 10:14am.

In your email, you see an interesting-looking article in your inbox. You take some time contemplating whether to read the article now or to start with your to-do list, now 3 hours behind schedule. Once again, your autonomic nervous system seizes this opportunity to advise you that you’re hungry and to go make some breakfast, as you didn’t eat much last night. Your lazy voice giggles in delight at having an ally as powerful as the hormones and neurotransmitters that govern your physiology on its side. You sigh and grab for your oats container.

When you first sat down to eat and read the article, you thought it’d only take 10, maybe 15 minutes max. But it’s now 11:21am, the oats bowl now empty and cold, and you realise you’re on YouTube watching a video called My longest yeah boy ever. You silently berate yourself, quickly wash your bowl and sit down at your desk. Your journal sits in front of you, waiting to be written on. “Okay,” you think to yourself. “I’ll quickly do these morning pages and then do some work.” After taking some time to write, you glance at the time: 11:45am. 15 minutes until noon. Your lazy voice pipes up.

Oh, just forget it. If you want to do work, just start at 12:00. It’s more legit that way, hey? You hate to admit it, but you find yourself agreeing with this advice. And as if on cue, your autonomic nervous system chimes in to thank you for feeding it, but now it’s sleepy again and would very much like another nap if that’s okay. You sigh, resigning yourself to these powerful forces and silently apologise to your last-night’s self for being such a failure. When you crawl back into bed, you promise yourself that when you wake up, you’ll do some work.

We’ll see about that.