Copy­right Jeremy Brooks, Flickr​.com

This is Week 3 of 52 Weeks of Self-​​Care.

I really enjoyed my nap last week. I hope you paused to enjoy a small rest your­self. If not, there’s always time to focus on that this week while you also attend to this week’s chal­lenge. It might sound silly, and maybe you already do this. Maybe you don’t. I’ve found myself lay­ing down at the end of a long day, breath­ing a sigh of relief as I nes­tle into my pil­low, and clos­ing my eyes only to then real­ize I for­got to brush my teeth. And because I am so tired, I choose not to get up from my cozy spot, over­look­ing my own oral care.

Ugh. I can­not believe I just admit­ted that. In writ­ing! Please tell me I’m not the only one over­look­ing my own oral health for a per­ceived addi­tional thirty min­utes of sleep even though I log­i­cally know it’s maybe two min­utes tops?

I have found when I actu­ally get up and brush and floss my teeth, I feel so much bet­ter. I go to sleep think­ing, “Well done, Joni. Good job tak­ing care of your­self. Enjoy your sleep.” Don’t laugh. I know I’m not the only one who talks to myself, either.

This week, focus on brush­ing your teeth twice each day. Leave your­self a sticky note with the reminder, or set your tooth­brush and tooth­paste out before you go to work so you see them when you come back in from work. Don’t for­get to floss, either. I once heard a den­tist (who just so hap­pens to be mar­ried to one of my favorite oncol­ogy nurses) say, “Only floss the teeth you want to keep.” I hear him every time I think about skip­ping over the floss. Again, after­ward I feel like a champ—like I’ve done some­thing super special.

That’s what it feels like to take care of yourself.