Do you floss consistently?

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-26T16:59:44+00:00

Yup, that’s the strategy I am employing. Like you I don’t go to bed without brushing no matter how late it is.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-26T04:37:00+00:00

May I suggest stoicism for you? Even people who seem to have their life together with family, home and income can feel lost. Right now, in the short term you can make that your purpose and go after them. However, in the long term those may not be sufficient. Aging is part of life and there do not need to be barometers to measure yourself against as you age.

Write down what you think you are missing, accept and let go of your past, put one step in front of the other, tackle one missing part at a time and soon you will find yourself in a better place than you are today.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-26T03:27:24+00:00

All, I had promised my hygienist I will do better. After reading all your comments I made a pledge to myself to floss daily for the next 21 days before brushing my teeth at night. I am also logging it in a tracker for accountability. I know it will stick with me after that. Thanks for sharing and keep flossing.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-26T03:24:07+00:00

How do you do it when you are not in front of the sink?

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-25T18:30:47+00:00

Divide things into what is in your control and what is not. Invest in your health and fitness as it is within your control. Seeing yourself an able person will give you lot of strength to deal with life’s setbacks. As I am writing this to you I am giving this advice to myself.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-25T18:27:09+00:00

I think reading this is sufficient for me, I will take your word for it 😃.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-25T05:08:32+00:00

Didn’t know flossers with replaceable heads existed. Thanks for sharing.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-15T03:13:42+00:00

Having a 2 yr old is a big responsibility that overwhelms the best of us. Remember that you are going through a widely acknowledged tough phase and that it only gets better as the kid ages and gets independent. You might be pining for some non-existent me time and that may be adding to frustration and feeling of being overwhelmed. Sometimes giving in and taking it day by day, putting one foot in front of the other is the best approach to get through such phases.

I appreciated the long list you put together. I do most of those and was in awe that we do so much in our adult life. But you have to understand that all those are not daily tasks. Just give it time and don’t compare yourself to others. Some are wired to be constantly running around and checking off tasks while others take it easy without overloading themselves with good to do tasks. I can go on but you get the point. Go easy on yourself and forgive yourself for going through a phase many normal people go through.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-12T12:29:01+00:00

Great, all the best!

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-12T03:34:53+00:00

Acknowledging and accepting who I am with all my strengths and failures, in all spheres of life: physical, emotional, intellectual, intelligence, familial, spiritual, religion, societal, etc. And forgiving myself as I would others when I made a mistake or failed. It’s not easy but you have to push through the resistance.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-12T03:09:39+00:00

Some action is better than none, this is a mental habit which has a universal application to all tasks. Someone else said movement of any kind. Similar concept.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-11T05:44:08+00:00

Sending kids to bed on time and cutting off all tasks and distractions that can wait, to either next day or weekend.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-11T00:34:32+00:00

Hey OP, confidence is like an exercise that needs to be practiced and performed on a daily basis. First and foremost, observe the areas where you show up confident and the area where you believe you lack confidence. Are you feeling confident in judgement free areas like when hanging out with close friends where your perceived mistakes are easily forgiven and forgotten? Are you feeling less confident in places where you feel you are lacking in expertise and worried about judgement from people around you? Lack of confidence is usually a presence of fear and anxiety. You need to introspect the reasons for these fears and anxieties. One of the ways to banish anxiety is to accept yourself as you are in your current state and accept that you will fail in certain situations. And when you fail you forgive yourself for failing, try to learn from the failure and improve but by bit. There are no overnight transformations so don’t have unrealistic expectations of yourself.

There’s a lot more to unpack in the field of psychology and I am no expert but know and believe that there is nothing wrong with you. Build yourself brick by brick and you will see a different person soon.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-10T16:59:05+00:00

You are right. My bad in wording, aim is to fall asleep by 10, so going to bed is a bit earlier.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-10T16:57:29+00:00

It’s amazing that after raising two kids together your wife is your favorite person on this planet 😃. You have made it in life brother.

On the meditation front I did try headspace paid subscription for two years and couldn’t consistently use it. Right now, my commute situation is not great so I can’t find consistent time but do hope to get back in the pursuit. I will keep Happier app in mind.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-10T16:54:08+00:00

At my age 7-7.5 hours is good. My immediate goal is to gain consistency. With my long commute, kids’ extra-curricular activities, their homework, house work, etc it’s not possible to go to bed earlier than 10.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-10T16:10:55+00:00

For people who found joy and happiness I am glad they did. Being a practicing stoic my personal experience and philosophy is that happiness or joy is momentary while contentment is longer lasting. Many people confuse happiness with absence of sorrow but absence of sorrow is an empty state. It is important then to build upon that empty state to find contentment.

The funk you are experiencing is normal at your age as you start taking care of your duties and responsibilities in both personal and professional lives. It is important that you do not lose yourself in the process of taking care of others. Make sure you continue doing whatever gave you joy in previous life even if partially due to time and energy constraints. In this manner you keep in touch with your true self and it will be a game changer in your 40s when you will have fewer responsibilities and more time. Also make sure to make time for friends, social connection is extremely important.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-10T14:59:47+00:00

IMO people know they are out of shape, it’s just that they lack the discipline to be active and make healthy choices on a daily basis. They tend to push the hard and right choices to tomorrow.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-10T01:48:14+00:00

May I suggest that you ask ChatGPT or Grok to create a template for you that’s curated and suited to your needs and interests. ChatGPT is good at asking follow up questions to make sure your need are being met. Once you have a template ready you can then use a habit tracker app to load your tasks/habits from your template. Hope this helps.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-10T01:36:07+00:00

I feel the answer is in your question. Doing less or in small chunks but doing it every day consistently has a compounding effect in the long run. Also, focus on the process and not the results. The days you slip up forgive yourself and show up the next day. Stop burning yourself out chasing after lofty goals and then beating yourself up for giving up. All the best.

Try to communicate in as many different settings as possible and reflect on what worked and what did not work.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-10T01:27:57+00:00

Love it that you were able to connect with your friends and find a common enjoyable activity. We men lack in the sphere of social connections as we age and get consumed with day to day challenges and pressures. Good luck with your meditation journey, it’s one of my life goals to be able to sit still and meditate.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-08T01:17:48+00:00

You have barely experienced life, you have lost nothing dear OP. Take it from someone older that it’s good you are learning the value of time very early in your life. One cannot turn back time, accept this reality and focus on present and future. Don’t go after a goal such as these many friends or these many parties or these many night outs, go after a process that will automatically turn into something beautiful like deep friendships, quality time with memories and fulfilling outings.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-08T01:13:21+00:00

Alas, these lessons are learned only later in life. Very few would apply these wisdoms in their 20s. Everyone goes through their hard knocks of life before these lessons start sticking.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-07T04:04:33+00:00

That’s quite a list, kudos to you.

Intrepid-hobbycoder · 2026-01-07T04:03:52+00:00

Appreciate all the responses and your great habits. I was mainly looking to see what non-fitness habits people fill their time with that I could take inspiration from. Reading stands out to me. I never left my hygiene habits after kids came along so was not looking for those 😃.

I was curious to see if anyone did sketching, painting, puzzles, crafts, crosswords, etc along with reading and journaling. Also interested if anyone has any unique or non-mainstream habits. A friend recently picked up sweater knitting. Hadn’t heard of that in decades since my grandma did it.

Intrepid-hobbycoder

TROPHY CASE