"They" say that it takes 21 days to create a new habit. Apparently this is not true for boring tasks that you hate doing.

As part of my 101Things in 1001 Days challenge, I said that I would floss every day for a month. I already was an okay flosser... maybe twice a week or so. (Certainly better than TS, who rarely flosses, yet has PERFECT TEETH.) Considering all the troubles with my teeth earlier this year and the fact that I handed over approximately 1/7th of my annual salary to the dentist, flossing would be a very good habit for me to develop. I figured for my teeth's sake, I should probably tackle this goal as soon as possible, so on July 14 (just after getting back from vacation), I started flossing every day for 30 days straight. And I did it. Which meant that my final day of the 30 day goal was last Friday. Check that one off the list!

And then I haven't flossed since last Friday.

Now, I'm sure you don't care at all about my dental habits and the last time that I flossed (perhaps TMI), but I am just saying this to say that there are some habits that just don't stick naturally, not matter how much you want them too. I just see flossing as one more annoying thing to do as part of my bedtime routine that is keeping me from hopping under the covers. Forget the fact that flossing takes about 60 seconds, those are 60 seconds that I could be in bed.

I'm obviously going to need to work on this.

I've mentioned before the fact that I am apparently still 9 years old and easily motivated by collecting stickers. In fact, for my 30 day flossing challenge, I did exactly that... each day I flossed, I got a smiley faced sticker in my planner. And it worked! I collected 30 smiley faces. I got a little thrill opening my planner each day and seeing those colored, foiled circles grinning up at me. So starting today, I'm going to go back to giving myself a sticker for each time I floss and hope that the habit eventually... sticks.

I suppose I should also mention here that some habits are easier to develop... like taking vitamins every day. I checked off my goal of taking vitamins every day for 30 days straight from the 101 Things in 1001 Days challenge today. I think it helps that my multivitamin is a gummy vitamin that tastes just like gummy bears. I won't let myself take them until I've also taken my B vitamin and flaxseed oil vitamins first, but oh, do I ever want that yummy gummy vitamin! (And then, of course, I also would give myself a silver foil star sticker in my planner.) Apparently I can easily bribe myself with both stickers and candy. Gee, who woulda guesses?