There’s too much to do in a day to have to think about everything. Some things have to be committed to habit status or they just won’t get done. If I have to remember to floss my teeth, I’ll never want to, or have enough time, or just plain get around to it. But if flossing my teeth is just the automatic last phase of eating a meal, then it happens all the time and I rarely give it a second thought.

But an odd thing happens when life gets crazy. Just when I need my habits the most, they leave me and retreat to calmer pastures where they can watch from a safe distance as I flounder through the day. Things like taking my vitamins, or flossing, or taking walks, or doing my crunches, or making a salad just fall by the wayside.

Well, I’ve come through a busy patch. Or rather, I’ve come through the worst of a busy patch that began last August and will end sometime in early June (if all goes well). So today I began the process of reinstating all of my good habits. Today, that meant thinking reminding myself to do a lot of things, and I’ll probably be forced to think hard about these little tasks all week, but hopefully by sometime next week I’ll be back to automatically taking my vitamins in the morning and doing my crunches in the evening.

Wish me luck!