Melissa Schlies – Page 12 – Melissa Schlies

Two Questions to Ask as We Wait For The Return of “Normal”

I know you’ve said these six little words. I just wonder if when you say them, you get the same feeling I do each time they pass my lips. Because every time I say, “When things get back to normal…” There’s a heaviness in my chest. A question on whether I should replace the “when” with an “if.” A sense that we’ve passed the point of no return. That just as September 11th shifted so much about how we live our lives, COVID-19 has done the same. Only we don’t fully know what it looks like yet. Often, after this [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-04-26T13:07:37+00:00April 27th, 2020|Categories: Adulting, Anxiety, Balance, Calling, Courage, Habit Making, Making Decisions, Social Distancing|Comments Off

Five Virtual Activities to Revamp Your Screen Time

A few weeks ago, a Social Distancing Meme appeared in my Instagram feed. On the top half it read “Isolation without kids.” Underneath it showed photos of a couple smiling as they did yoga, played a game, and read together in bed. It also showed a woman painting, while in another photo, a woman was planting a garden. Then, on the bottom half, the meme read “Isolation with kids.” Underneath it showed a photo of kids in a hot tub overflowing with bubbles. There was one of a baby covered head to toe in Skippy Peanut Butter. Then there was [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-04-22T23:50:39+00:00April 23rd, 2020|Categories: Balance, Creativity, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Social Distancing|Comments Off

Why 2020 Makes Me Want to Swear, & I have a Feeling I’m Not Alone

Growing up in New England, sledding was often an every winter occurrence. One memory I have of sledding included me, my younger sister, and a boy from our neighborhood all pilling in our long, blue sled. We were at the top of a snow covered hill just down the street from home. Suddenly gravity took over and sent us careening downward. When our turn came, the boy sitting in front inched us toward the edge until suddenly gravity took over and sent us careening downward. Quickly, over the boy’s shoulder, I could see we were headed for the one big [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-04-21T15:36:49+00:00April 20th, 2020|Categories: Fear, grief, Health, Mental Health, perseverance, Social Distancing, Social Distancing Survival Guide|2 Comments

We Will Get Through This

When I was a junior in High School, I used to pray over my Chemistry Textbook. I’m not kidding. In the middle of doing my homework, with the book open on my desk, I’d lay my hands on its pages. Then I’d put my head down on my hands as if I was going to go to sleep, and I’d pray. I’d pray that whatever the book was supposed to teach me about Chemistry would magically enter my brain. That God would use osmosis or His incredible grace to help me understand the language of chemical equations my brain could [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-04-15T23:43:27+00:00April 16th, 2020|Categories: Courage, Fear, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Social Distancing|Comments Off

In Case No One Told You, The Rules Have Changed

I don’t need to tell you how much our lives have changed in the last month. How strange social distancing is or that now, going to the grocery store is like being in a sci-fi movie. All of us wearing our masks, and trying so hard to say six feet a part. But in all of this, I do feel like there is one thing I need to say. Friend, the rules have changed. Many of the ones we’ve followed daily for as long as we can remember, no longer apply. The expectations of others or ourselves that say we [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-04-13T12:16:58+00:00April 13th, 2020|Categories: Anxiety, Change, Fear, FOMO, Habit Making, Hope, Social Distancing|Comments Off

Reader Question #1: Can Someone Have Faith and Still Be Scared?*

Recently, a good friend and email subscriber reached out to me with this question: It is possible to have complete faith in God, and still feel fear? Or perhaps more specific to our current circumstances, can we simultaneously have faith that God is going to watch over us, while still being afraid of Covid-19? When it comes to life, faith, science—basically everything—we as humans want absolutes. And, we want ourselves to be resolute. Once we find what seems to be the right position on everything from the type of milk we drink, to politics, to our beliefs—we want to be [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-04-08T20:45:09+00:00April 9th, 2020|Categories: Anxiety, Courage, Faith, Fear, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Reader Question|1 Comment

What To Do When Being At Home Is Hard

A friend of mine once told me that she hates spending too much time at home. When she was growing up, things were bad living with her parents. Home was not a good place to be. So now, as an adult, she’d rather spend her downtime outside of her own home—doing errands or being involved in activities. For her, being home means being still enough for all the hard things of her past to surface. Home is not always our place of comfort. Only now, that is where many of us are. We’re working from home or our jobs have [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-04-06T12:33:07+00:00April 6th, 2020|Categories: Anxiety, Conflict, Depression, Health, Hope, Mental Health, Self Care, Social Distancing|2 Comments

Five Ways to Approach Your Pandemic Grief

In the corner of our living room right now, there is a big stack of boxes. It had begun to form over a month ago, when our plans looked very different. Now, they’re a daily reminder that our lives have been put on hold. Tony and I were supposed to move this season. No, we haven’t found a house (though we came very close to putting an offer on one). But before Covid-19, we’d been actively looking. And as the boxes in our living room can attest, we were already packing. We were READY to move. Only now, everything is [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-04-01T23:16:50+00:00April 2nd, 2020|Categories: Acceptance, Change, comparison, Conflict, Depression, grief, Health, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Mental Health|Comments Off

A Social Distancing Survival Guide for Everyday (Free Download)

They say, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Right now, we’re all feeling the truth of this statement in a way we’ve never experienced before. It's amazing how much of our lives have changed in such a short period of time. Not only has the pandemic caused us to give up the majority of our social interaction for the foreseeable future, but it has also cost us many of the crucial components of our everyday lives. We’ve had to say a lot of goodbyes. Some forever, and some for an unknown amount of time. Some as [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-04-06T16:03:08+00:00March 30th, 2020|Categories: Acceptance, Anxiety, Change, Courage, Depression, Fear, grief, Habit Making, perseverance, Routines, Social Distancing Survival Guide, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Books To Help You on Your Creative Journey

I have a confession to make. In case I haven’t shared this before, I can be a little too independent in certain areas of my life. In some situations—even if I am a total newbie—I jump right in, assuming I will figure things out as I go. Of course, this doesn’t mean I don’t always do my fair share of internet surfing first. Before I baked my first loaf of whole wheat bread, I looked up at least a half a dozen recipes before landing on the one I wanted to try. And when it came to doing my first [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-03-19T18:33:42+00:00March 26th, 2020|Categories: Creativity, Good Books, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, perseverance, Preparation|Comments Off

About Melissa Schlies

Reader Question #1: Can Someone Have Faith and Still Be Scared?*

Five Ways to Approach Your Pandemic Grief

Books To Help You on Your Creative Journey

ABOUT ME

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