Essential

"But Jesus himself would often slip away into the wilderness and pray." Luke 5:16

Ok, you think you got your day off to a start. Coffee or whatever you drink and are gone.  Struggles meet you. Frustration in traffic. Frustration in the weather. Get to where you are going. Frustration in finding a parking space. Go about your day, here and there, more irritation, more frustration. Why?

Well, if you started a day like that without time alone with God, that's the kind of day you will have. 

Consider the poem "The Difference"
I got up early one morning
And rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish
That I didn't have time to pray.
Problems just tumbled about me,
And heavier came each task;
'Why doesn't God help me?' I wondered.
He answered, 'You didn't ask.'
I wanted to see joy and beauty
But the day toiled on gray and bleak
I wondered why God didn't show me
He said, 'But you didn't seek',
I tried to come into God's presence;
I used all my keys in the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided,
'My child, you didn't knock.'
I woke up early this morning,
And paused before entering the day;
I had so much to accomplish
That I had to take time to pray.
- Author Unknown, The Difference

We who are called of God cannot go through a day without keeping our eyes where they are supposed to be.   We are in a Spiritual War. You need to hear from Jesus.  He needs to hear from you. He loved you enough to die for you, doesn't that count for something?  Make the time. So what that you lose a little sleep, get up a little bit early and talk. He will see to it that you won't regret it. He sacrificed himself to make the way for you to be able to pray and be heard.
Life will always have struggles. But Jesus can make your path straight or at least straighter than it would have been without Him.
Fill your mind with thanksgiving.  With songs that put you in the mood to worship.  Your day will get better.  Read some in your Bible, it is a love letter written for you.  Spend time alone with Jesus. 
It isn't to say your struggles won't go away, but it is to say you will indeed make it through them in ways you couldn't have done before. Thoughts that you can't figure out how you had that got you through something. Things working out that by all rights shouldn't have.
A peace that you can't explain.

So stop and pray. If you can, find a quiet place and make it your own. Jesus loves you and really would like to hear from you.