Say Goodbye to Chapstick.. Maybe?

OK so giving up Chapstick was pretty much the hardest thing I have done in a long time. It even rivals my climb up Hell Dome (Half Dome at Yosemite). Only, that climb only lasted 10 hours. The fiery, dry, torture takes place on my lips nearly all day, every day. Occasionally, they would heal just enough not to crack when I smiled. I thought for sure they were getting better and then I would make a classic mistake. I would inadvertently lick my lips. Now, the saliva on the lips make them feel better for about .4 seconds but after that, they go dryer than cotton in a summer desert heat. With the dryness comes the burning and cracking. The burning pretty much feels like you are kissing the 9th circle of Hell constantly. I could barely kiss HBF without feeling any pain. What's a girl to do? I thought a lot about addiction and what it would mean if I jumped off my wagon into a pool of delicious Chapstick. Would I be a quitter? Do I have no discipline? Can I look at myself in the mirror knowing that I could never give up Chapstick?

If someone is an alcoholic, they must not let themselves have any kind of alcoholic beverage or it's considered falling off the wagon. The reason is, these addicts can't control themselves. Once they have a taste of the sweet nectar, they want more; and more usually leads to more, which usually leads to awful decisions, blah blah blah. So my thought was, what if I can use Chapstick responsibly? What if I can change my relationship with Chapstick? In fact, the first order of business is to find a chapstick that was natural and didn't have any drying ingredients like my beloved Chapstick Medicated. Of course, I turned to Burts Beeswax, Second, I made a promise to myself to only use my Burts once a day. It didn't matter if my lips burned like the depths of a fiery hell, once a day was the cap. If I could control myself, then I considered that a win.

Fastforward to now and I've been adhering to my strict regime for about a month. My lips don't burn (that much) anymore and they may actually be healing. Using only once a day is actually easier than I imagined. I've even forgot to use it on several occasions. I call this a win and anyone who says I'm cheating can walk a dang day in my shoes, dry lips and all.