Orthodontists will tell you: skip the retainer and teeth can shift back. Every big change needs a little maintenance plan.

Getting somewhere and staying there are two separate jobs, and only the first one feels like an achievement. Whatever you changed had momentum behind it: effort, attention, maybe money. Once that stops, things drift back toward the old arrangement, not because you failed but because drift is what untended things do.

Take one change you have already made, sleep, fitness, a grade, a habit, and write down the smallest thing that keeps it in place. Make that the part you protect when the week gets busy. Upkeep is dull and far cheaper than starting over.