Melissa Schlies – Page 16 – Melissa Schlies

Holding Our Holiday Plans Loosely

One of my favorite holiday memories as a kid was on Thanksgiving. As most childhood memories go, I can’t for the life of me remember what our family’s plans were supposed to be that day. I only remember what happened. But most likely, for dinner, we were supposed to go see our grandparents, who lived over an hour away. Then, We got a big New England snow storm. The kind that created drifts far taller than my youngest sister. She was four or five then, and the snow banks made her cry out from not being able to see my [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-12-05T22:01:21+00:00December 9th, 2019|Categories: Balance, Christmas, Freedom, Preparation|Comments Off

Love: My Favorite Books From 2019

“Some books leave us free and some books make us free.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson Do you ever wish there was more time in a day just to read? I know I do. There always seems to be more work, laundry, or something to clean calling my name as soon as I sit down with a good book. It feels like all of life’s responsibilities call to me the loudest when I get quiet. While, if I get sucked into endlessly scrolling social media on my phone, everything else is strangely silent. How I wish it was the other way around. [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-12-05T16:17:14+00:00December 5th, 2019|Categories: Good Books, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead|Comments Off

Waiting…At Christmas

In celebration of Advent, I am reposting this from my first Christmas blog series in 2016. For those of us who are waiting--not only for Christmas, but for important things to happen in our lives--this post still holds up. And I pray you find it encouraging. This past November, just after Halloween, the stores set up their Christmas displays. Though what is known as the “Christmas Creep” has been happening for quite a few years now, I almost found it shocking. One afternoon, I was doing my grocery shopping, turned a corner, and found myself in Santa’s Workshop. All I could [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-12-01T17:50:53+00:00December 2nd, 2019|Categories: Christmas, Faith, Hope, Waiting|Comments Off

Happy Thanksgiving

To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven. —Johannes A. Gaertner May our celebrations with friends and family today, be our way of living out our gratitude. As we give thanks, may our joy overflow into the coming season. And as we enter into a greater awareness of all we have been given, may we touch heaven. Grateful for you. Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving, Friends! Do you feel mentally and/or emotionally overloaded by both real life and the approaching Holidays? If [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-11-20T20:18:58+00:00November 28th, 2019|Categories: gratitude, Uncategorized|Comments Off

My Favorite Thanksgiving Links

As I have shared before, hands down, fall is my favorite season. Give me the chunky sweaters, all the flannel, the apple picking, and the pumpkin flavored (almost) anything—I am here for it. And though many people may think Halloween is the best fall holiday, Thanksgiving is my favorite. Of course, it helps that I am not a costume person, and Thanksgiving involves baking (my happy place). But this Holiday that finds itself wedged in between Halloween and Christmas, offers many of us an extra long weekend, time with family or friends, and really good food. Also, for my family’s [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-11-20T20:14:54+00:00November 25th, 2019|Categories: Food, Good Books, podcasts I love, Preparation, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Love Learn Lead November 21, 2019

Friends, it is hard to believe we are closing in on Thanksgiving already. A week from today, we will be with friends and family, eating turkey and pie. Then, a week from tomorrow, the countdown to Christmas will begin. For many of us, I know, our schedules have already begun to pick up before the Holidays. With all the busyness, in some ways, I felt a little crazy to talk about self care on the blog this month. But if you have stayed with me on this journey, I hope you have felt valued and maybe even, you’re taking me [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-11-20T20:02:50+00:00November 21st, 2019|Categories: Balance, discipline, Good Books, Habit Making, Health, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Routines, Self Care, Uncategorized|Comments Off

An Open Letter to All My Fellow People Pleasers

Dear friends, I have a feeling there are more of us than we realize. “Us” being anyone who has spent more time making other people happy, than they have spent thinking about their own happiness. Or anyone who has felt it’s more trouble to speak up for oneself than it is to suffer the consequences. Chances are, you are one of “us,” if you’ve ever: Agreed to doing more than you can handle for a Holiday dinner, event, or party. Heard your boss say that you didn’t get time off for the Holiday because you were the only one who [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-11-13T16:33:05+00:00November 18th, 2019|Categories: Balance, Christmas, Conflict, Freedom, Health, Self Care, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Three Ways to Practice Self Care This Holiday Season

“Self-comfort numbs us, weakens us, hides us; it can be soporific. But self-care awakens us, strengthens us, and emboldens us to rise.” —Sarah Bessey Ever since I read these words from Sarah, in her latest book, Miracles and Other Reasonable Things, they’ve lingered in my mind. So much so that I am sharing them here on the blog for the second time this month. Never have I heard someone so clearly delineate the difference between self-comfort and self-care. For much of my life, I’ve engaged in self-comfort, while believing self-care was selfish. Only I didn’t realize the damage all my [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-11-13T16:07:49+00:00November 14th, 2019|Categories: Balance, Christmas, discipline, Habit Making, Health, Lead, Learn, Love Learn Lead, Self Care, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Can We Be Thankful…For Ourselves?

If I was to ask you to share five things you are grateful for, would you be one of them? Would you remember how your eyes allow you to see sunsets and the faces of your loved ones? How your legs took you trampling through a pumpkin patch last month, embracing all that fall has to offer? Or how your strategic skills came up with a plan for Thanksgiving that all your family members could agree to? Is there at least one thing you can celebrate about yourself? As Thanksgiving is merely weeks away, people we know are taking the [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-11-08T21:08:31+00:00November 11th, 2019|Categories: #mybodyhas, Acceptance, Beauty, Body Image, Self Care, Uncategorized|Comments Off

How to Choose Self Care Over Self Comfort

A number of years ago, I sat in a coffee shop with a person I was mentoring. And as I often do, I asked her what it looked like to take care of herself in the busy season she was currently living. Her response was something like: “I think I need to practice self care more. I need to make time to get weekly massages and sit in the hot tub.” Right away, as I tried to wipe a look of surprise from my face, I had two thoughts: One, she may have had self care figured out way more [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-11-05T21:24:11+00:00November 7th, 2019|Categories: #mybodyhas, Habit Making, Health, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Preparation, Self Care, Uncategorized|Comments Off

About Melissa Schlies

Holding Our Holiday Plans Loosely

Love: My Favorite Books From 2019

Waiting…At Christmas

Happy Thanksgiving

My Favorite Thanksgiving Links

Love Learn Lead November 21, 2019

An Open Letter to All My Fellow People Pleasers

Three Ways to Practice Self Care This Holiday Season

Can We Be Thankful…For Ourselves?

How to Choose Self Care Over Self Comfort

ABOUT ME

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