Hi @splitimage and unaluna and everyone who visits this thread,

Happy New Year and all the best building habits!

I am happy to report that entirely thanks to your thread @splitimage, I was able to build the habit of brushing for the second time on most days, albeit not all. When I first discovered the thread, I did not believe that I could do better than I had been doing already, with the morning routine of flossing, scraping, and brushing. Then I read what unaluna wrote about the necessity to go to bed with clean teeth, but soon realized that it was out of reach for me because I eat dinner right before bedtime (and unfortunately sometimes wake up hungry and need to eat and drink a little in the middle of the night, but that is a separate sad story and I now take Topamax to try to reduce that abnormal hunger). So I settled on brushing not before bed but sometime in the afternoon or evening, at least 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after any contact with food and drink, and entirely thanks to the thread I am now a point where on most days this is happening. There were many occasions when if not for the thread, I would not have done it. I would have forgotten or I would have been too tired. But now it is pretty much a habit, and wanting to be a realist rather than a perfectionist, I am satisfied with performing the habit on most days.

My goal now is to build the vital habit of going to bed consistently every night and I opened a thread about it in this subforum just as @splitimage had done with this thread before me, for precisely the same reasons, accountability and all. I opened it because I saw the success of this thread. As you have already visited my thread and given me hugs, you know. Thank you very much. I also want to exercise consistently. These are new habits to build and I want to be able to say on Jan 1, 2025 that I have built these habits solid.

I won't report on this thread anymore during my normal days because my 2nd brushing habit is solid now and I do not want to get distracted from my main goals of building the habits of going to bed consistently (my thread) and exercising (unaluna's thread). I will keep the subscription to the thread going and check on you from time to time @splitimage to see how you are doing and how brushing and 5 a day tiny habit program are coming along and what the results of your dental check-ups are. It was also great to get to know you more, to learn about your new job, your 5 year long/strong sobriety tenure, and your home remodeling project (I hope it will get completed this year, making brushing easier for you).

As from time to time I will undoubtedly get depressed again and stop caring for my teeth, I will report back on the thread coming out of depressions and regaining control of dental care, which is usually the first thing I do when the crisis passes.