Chapped Lips

The reason for this recent hiatus in blogging is not due to business. I mean, ok maybe a little bit. But mostly not. This non-blogging moment has been brought to you by the deep, pensive moments of Emily's brain. For those who don't feel like pulling up a seperate web page to look up the definition of pensive, I will give it to you here:

pen·sive

adjective

1.  dreamily or wistfully thoughtful

2. expressing or revealing thoughtfulness, usually marked by some sadness

Now, don't go getting ideas that I'm going emo and depressed just because the definition of the word I used says my thoughts are marked by sadness. Not true. I have just been reflecting on a lot of things. And sometimes, yes, I do get a little sad. But it eventually gets better, and so do I. And life moves on. 

I would have to say one of the worst, most annoying things I have had to deal with in my life thus far is chapped lips. Dramatic you may say? Maybe. But think about it. They seriously are the worst. They are painful. They burn and itch and sometimes even bleed. They are obnoxious and hard to get rid of. All you want to do is bite, and pick and lick. YES, lick. Our stupid brain convinces us that somehow, licking our lips will make the chappedness better. But in reality, it only makes it worse. Much much worse.  No matter how hard you try, nor how many different treatments and ointments applied, there is little hope of ending the forever cracked, dehydrated, chapped lips. 

Except one thing. 

Time. 

I have found in my quest to end the torment of chapped lips, that time is truly the only cure that there is. 

Time and dedication to letting the lips heal on their own. You can't force it. You can't MAKE them heal or suddenly acquire moisture. It has to happen when it is supposed to. 

So, you may be wondering why I was wistfully thinking about chapped lips. I wasn't really. I was just annoyed with the fact that my lips were chapped, and then it got me thinking about things in my life that I view as 'chapped lips.' Things that are obnoxious, and annoying, and painful. Really, cut deep to the bone painful. And I won't bore you with the details, but I do indeed have some 'chapped lips' in my life that I wish I didn't have to deal with. But the thing is, you can't just wish your chapped lips away. It doesn't work like that. No, it takes time. 

And this was a pretty recent revelation I had. The 'chapped lips' I have been biting and licking for months now, weren't getting any better. And I was getting pretty tired of trying. The treatments I was attempting, weren't working. I wanted to give up. It was then that I realized the time answer. 

I needed to stop with the trying. I had done all I could. I had given it my all. It was now all up to time. Time was going to cure it. Time will solve my problem and fix the 'chapped lips' I had for so long despised because of the pain it was causing me. 

And just like that, I was free. The healing process began. I was able to focus on other things and move on. I knew that I was still in for a bit of a rough ride, because even thought the dryness was becoming less dry, it still hurt; but that there was an end and that this will all just be water under the bridge eventually. I could finally go a day without being annoyed with the 'chapped lips.' And I have never been more pleased in my life. 

Hence, why I have been quite pensive lately. I have been doing some profound thinking and soul searching. Thinking about the things that are truly important to me, and the things that matter the most and the things that don't. Thinking about where I wanted to spend my time, and who with. Thinking about not only where I want to be in 5, 10, 20 years, but where I want to be right now. Who I want to be and who I want others to see me as. What I want to be said about me when I die. How I want to be remembered. 

I hate chapped lips. I never want to have them. But, thats an impossible dream. It's physically impossible to avoid both literal and metaphorical chapped lips. So, I'm going to take each dehydrated, tender lip I get in my at a time, and get rid of them. Doing as much as I can and giving it all I got, and then just letting time and the Big Man Upstairs do the rest. Because honestly, that is all I can do. 

There is no point in beating a dead horse; it ain't gonna get any deader. Take what you want from that, but it has special meaning to me, and that is all that matter. 

Moral of the Story:

Chapped Lips - You are going DOWN. 

In other news - a blog about my weekend trip to Vegas. Be excited. Because it was one heck of an EXCITING trip.