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I thought I’d give a little more background into my decision to choose flossing to kick off my year of resolutions.  For starters, I was desperate for something to do that first day at the last-minute.  That part is all true.  The decision to stick with something relatively easy and doable as my first task goes back to an interesting story I heard on NPR.  The story was about resolutions and how to make them stick.  The interviewees had written a book detailing the psychology behind making and keeping resolutions.  Lots of what he said made intuitive sense but the part that surprised me concerned will power.  He suggested that his research revealed will power was like a muscle that could become more powerful with use.  Just as you would teach a new exerciser to start with light weights and work up to heavy, he suggested that you start small and build on your early success.  This was appealing to me on many levels.  First, it postponed the really hard attitude and life-changing resolutions till later which made the procrastinator in me giddy with joy.  Second, it meant that as the year went on and each week was completed perhaps the tasks would become easier to manage.  This goes nicely with my goal of becoming a better person over the course of the year.

The flossing in the end was not as easy as you  might imagine.  I hate to whine about floss but there were some unexpected challenges. We moved the day after Christmas.  Yup, we are those people.  Finding the floss, therefore, was not so straightforward a task as one would expect in normal times.  Tuesday night tragedy nearly struck when the floss ran out.  Luckily, I had already flossed and so it was my husband who went to bed with extra food and bacteria in his mouth instead of me.  The next day I forgot to buy more and so we were forced to raid my parents apartment downstairs.  My Dad, an avid flosser himself, is secretly happy that I am paying more attention to my teeth.  He gladly handed over his stash and offered to get us more from Costco.  He really takes floss seriously.  As with everything else in my life I can see already how this project is definitely going to be a family affair.  Let’s hope I don’t drive everyone crazy in the process.