You should get back into things pretty quickly. I know what you mean about lucid dreaming permanently changing your dreams. Even when I'm not actively dreaming, I still just assume I have control of my dreams. It seems like it has just become habit. I even took a few years off, and my dream control remained.

I think the single most important thing you can do is interrupt your nights' sleep with a Wake Back To Bed. Get up for a few minutes to write down your dreams, then return to sleep with your intention set to become lucid.