The Blackout That Changed How I Think About Sleep

It was the hottest night of the year. The kind of sticky heat where your hair clings to your neck, the sheets feel like they’ve been through a sauna, and the air conditioner becomes less of a luxury and more of a survival tool.

I had just gotten into bed — feeling smug because for once I was actually winding down at a reasonable hour — when the lights went out.

A blackout.

Unfortunately, this is nothing new where we live. Once a week, like clockwork (pardon the irony), the power decides to take a vacation. But somehow, it always picks the most inconvenient time: right before bed, right when the air is heaviest, right when the only thing I want is to drift off in cool, quiet comfort.

Within seconds, my room went from cozy to cave-like. No hum of the air conditioner. No soft glow from the nightlight. The heat swelled in the stillness, and my first thought was, Great. It’s going to be one of those nights.

But here’s the part that surprised me: my biggest worry wasn’t the heat. It wasn’t the lack of airflow. It wasn’t even the fact that I’d have to fumble in the dark if I needed to get up.

No, my biggest fear was… the clock.

The Panic Over Time

The moment the power went out, my first thought wasn’t, How will I sleep in this heat? It was, How will I know when I fell asleep? How will I know how many hours I got?

That’s when it hit me — I’ve been judging the quality of my sleep based entirely on what the clock tells me, not on how my body actually feels.

It’s a habit so many of us have:

• We wake up, glance at the time, and instantly decide whether we’re rested.

• We go to bed calculating the “perfect” amount of sleep we should get.

• If we wake up in the middle of the night and see the wrong number, we panic, convinced tomorrow will be a disaster.

But here’s the thing — our bodies are not machines. We’re not programmed to need the exact same number of hours every single night. Some nights, we may feel amazing after six and a half hours. Other nights, even eight hours can feel like we’ve barely scratched the surface.

The Surprise the Next Morning

The following morning, I woke up feeling rested and energized. I was so convinced I had slept well into the morning — basically overslept — that when I shuffled into the kitchen and looked at the wall clock, I was shocked to see it was actually 20 minutes before my usual wake-up time.

That just goes to show you how unreliable the clock can be as a judge of rest.

There was none of that usual morning fog or mental wrestling with “Did I get enough sleep?” Instead, I sat up and just felt ready.

Usually, my first move in the morning is to check the clock like it’s the final score of a game. If the numbers look good, I give myself a thumbs-up. If not… Well, I mentally prepare for a day of dragging my feet and eye bags the size of small suitcases.

But this time? My body was running the show, not my brain. And honestly, it felt like a breath of fresh air — like finally ditching a bad habit you didn’t even know you had.

Why This Clock Obsession Is a Sleep Thief

Here’s the deal: obsessing over the clock is like turning your bedroom into a math test you didn’t sign up for.

Instead of letting sleep just happen, we start calculating, predicting, and stressing: If I fall asleep right now, I’ll get 6 hours and 47 minutes — is that enough?

Then, if we wake up at 3 a.m. and see the clock flashing “3:15,” we spiral into panic: Only a few hours left — how will I survive tomorrow?

But here’s a secret your body’s been trying to tell you all along: it doesn’t care about the numbers. It cares about how rested you actually feel.

Some days you’ll be a rockstar after 6 hours. Other days, you could sleep 9 hours and still feel like a zombie. The clock is just a noisy distraction from the real story — your body’s own rhythm.

My Takeaway from the Blackout

Honestly? That blackout was like an unexpected gift wrapped in darkness.

I went to bed expecting to toss and turn, dreading the heat, and obsessing over the missing clock. Instead, I woke up feeling refreshed, earlier than normal, and shockingly… free.

Free from the tyranny of the ticking numbers that have been running my sleep life for too long.

Turns out, my body knows better than my brain’s bedtime math. It knows when it’s had enough rest, when it’s ready to jump out of bed, and when it’s time to recharge again.

That blackout stripped away the usual “scorecard” I carry around and gave me a rare chance to listen to my own signals — no distractions, no judgment, no clock.

If you’re anything like me, you might think tracking every minute means you’re in control. But sometimes, the best sleep comes when you stop tracking, stop stressing, and just let yourself be.

So here’s my challenge — next time you climb into bed, try telling the clock to take a break. Face it away, turn it off, or just ignore it. Trust your body a little more. Because honestly? It’s smarter than any glowing number could ever be.

If you ever feel like you need more — more support, a personalized sleep blueprint, or simply someone to really hear you out — please feel free to book your free complimentary call here. Let’s connect, talk through what’s been keeping you up, and make sleep happen.

 Book your free complimentary call here.