Pursuits of Perfection with the WLC

Last night I struggled to sleep.  I am doing the Whole Life Challengeand one component of my challenge is to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night.  At 10PM yesterday, I panicked. I needed to get to bed by 10:10PM so I could wake up at 5:10 in the morning to make it to my spinning class.  And then I remembered I needed to soak the overnight oats! I ran downstairs, prepared the almond milk, banana, dates and sunflower seed butter blend, placed the oats in a bowl and ran back upstairs.  10:08PM.  Good.  I proceeded to turn off the lights. And then sleep wouldn't come to me. It wouldn't envelope my body the way it does for my husband every night.  I begged it to come, closed my eyes, talked to it, but it just wouldn't listen to me.  It was now 10:30 PM and I was going to miss my target and lose 5 points.  Anxiety took over my body.  I am generally an anxious sleeper especially when I have to wake up early for an exercise class or for work, but now, the Whole Life Challenge was causing me stress.  And thus started the night of restless sleeping and 5:10 AM could not come any sooner.

In my quest to maximize my points and achieve "perfection" in my daily score count, I missed the entire point of trying to achieve 7 hours of sleep a night: to feel rested, calm and rejuvenated for the next day.  The point of the Whole Life Challenge is to make changes to your habits such that you feel better all-around.  Also in my haste to sleep, I had dispensed with my nightly routine of watching a little TV to decompress from the day and reading a book before I turn off the lights.  Tonight will be different.  As long as I feel rested, calm and rejuvenated in the morning, the number of hours I sleep should be secondary.  At least that's what I need to keep telling myself when I lose the next 5 points!  Zzzzzzzzzz......