Flashback to the end of 2021, my life felt like it was in a tailspin. I was a mom to an infant during a pandemic. I had just lost a pregnancy, in Central Asia no less, where I had to receive healthcare on the local economy. (Have you ever had a second world sonogram? Same as a first world but you have an extra person in the room (who is not my husband) as translator, and everyone is in masks.) I felt isolated from friends and family, granted just in the physical sense. While I was juggling all of the glass balls in the air, I was not exactly taking care of myself.
At the end of 2021, it is fair to say that I felt out of control. As such, I knew anything that I attempted to change needed to be minimal. As such, I resolved to floss every day. It was such low hanging fruit, included in so many others’ hygiene routines that it was inexplicable why I had not already started flossing on the daily. I would finally be able to stop feeling guilty after my dentist asked if I flossed!
And that is exactly what I did! I have flossed more nights than not since that resolution two years ago. How I did it? I committed to Cocofloss, which helped me rebrand flossing to self care rather than basic hygiene. Cocofloss was founded by a pair of sisters, one being a dentist, to make flossing fun, motivating, and rewarding. Mission accomplished! I bookend flossing with a nightly teeth routine: a charcoal toothpaste brushing and a Listerine rinsing.
Even when it felt like I was hurtling towards a disaster, being able to better manage my oral health made me feel slightly more in control of my life and that was my first step in a healthier direction.
