Acceptance – Page 4 – Melissa Schlies

When It’s Actually Ok to Compare

In our kitchen, on the shelf just above our toaster, you will find a small bronze colored tool that looks like a wrench. It came with a piece of Ikea furniture we bought years ago. And somehow, it got repurposed for pulling things out of our toaster oven. Once our food is cooked, the hot oven rack is too small to grab with a mitt, so we reach in there and hook it with this “wrench.” Then, we drag it out. Only, it doesn’t work that well. In fact sometimes, I still burn myself. Yet here we are, years later, [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-10-24T13:12:10+00:00October 31st, 2019|Categories: Acceptance, Calling, comparison, Lead, Leadership, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Uncategorized|Comments Off

On meeting Insta Puppies & Getting Over Comparison

We had just finished our first tasting at a winery in Sonoma California. The richness of Pino Noir still lingered on my tongue, as Tony and I walked around a little shop adjacent to the tasting room. And as we debated spending more than we wanted to on a bottle of merlot, two tall, blond women walked into the shop with their very well groomed dog. A minute later, two other women came in and one quickly stooped down to pet the dog. “I hope you don’t mind me asking—but is this Fluffy*?” the woman asked the woman holding the [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-10-10T14:35:37+00:00October 14th, 2019|Categories: Acceptance, comparison, FOMO, Identity, Uncategorized|Comments Off

The Stump of a Redwood

Other than the sound of gravel crunching beneath our hiking shoes, it was quiet. The kind of quiet that makes you hesitant to speak. And when you do, it makes you whisper. All around us giant redwood trees towered above our heads. Tony and I were in California. But rather than visiting Muir Woods, we settled for Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve. Longer to say, but not as overrun with tourists, as our online research had told us. And as it was early on a Sunday morning, All was still. There wasn’t even a breeze moving through the trees. The [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-10-03T16:06:11+00:00October 7th, 2019|Categories: Acceptance, Beauty, Change, Failure, grief, Uncategorized|Comments Off

When Change, Changes You

This past summer, Tony and I grew four tomato plants out on our deck. If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw some of our first fruits, as I was pretty excited to get a crop. But then, blossom end rot began to overtake our San Marzano plant. For every healthy tomato, it seemed there were two that began to blacken and wrinkle from the bottom up. I was so discouraged. Instead of harvesting red ripe tomatoes, every time I went out to the porch it seemed I was bringing back little, rotting, baby green ones. It was depressing. [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-09-27T14:54:55+00:00September 30th, 2019|Categories: Acceptance, Change, Faith, Hope, perseverance, Saying No, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me About Moving Far From Home

Years ago, I talked to an expat who had lived overseas for over thirty years. He said that after being away from your country of origin for ten years, your sense of where you come from shifts. Your idea of home gets muddled. Because all your recent history has been spent in a place other than where you grew up, you begin to feel like you belong where you are, more than where you’re from. Living in a different culture for so many years, I am sure, enhanced his experience even more so. But now, after living fifteen years in [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-09-04T13:32:33+00:00September 26th, 2019|Categories: Acceptance, Adulting, Change, Freedom, Lead, Leadership, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, perseverance, Preparation, Travel, Uncategorized|Comments Off

What if They Don’t Like Me?

I grabbed my bag, quickly looking inside to make sure I had something to write with. I found a pen and a pencil. Then, taking a deep breath, I zipped up my bag, and hung the strap over my shoulder. I check the time, I was ten minutes early. Just enough to get coffee. I locked the car, then looking both ways, crossed the parking lot. I entered the store. Though it was quiet for a Saturday, there was a small line at the cafe. I stepped in behind a man with two small girls. One was telling him she [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-07-16T15:13:01+00:00July 22nd, 2019|Categories: Acceptance, Adulting, Courage, Fear, Friendship, Rejection, Uncategorized|2 Comments

Rewiring Our Body Image: #MyBodyHas

Do you remember the first time you had a negative thought about your body? I know I don’t. All I know is I was young, and that since then, there have been too many to count. Sometimes, thoughts of shame about my body have come as easily to me as breathing. They fly through my brain and land in my heart bringing a heaviness that is hard to shake. Because they’ve been making their appearance for years now, they leave in their wake a sense of defeat. They tell me my body will never be enough. My body that has [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-06-12T16:13:11+00:00June 13th, 2019|Categories: #mybodyhas, Acceptance, Beauty, Body Image, Courage, Freedom, Good Books, gratitude, Health, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Learn: Anything Can Happen in 2019

Eight years ago this month, a school bus hit the back of my car. Now, before you start picturing a school bus full of screaming kids, a distraught bus driver, and me on the side of the road with a wrecked car—let me tell you, it wasn’t like that. But, my car was wrecked. That morning, on a sunny day in the middle of January, I went to work as I always did. I parked my car in the spot I always parked. Then I walked into work thinking about the meetings I had that day. About an hour later, [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-03-09T15:20:41+00:00January 10th, 2019|Categories: Acceptance, Balance, Faith, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, perseverance, Story, Uncategorized|Comments Off

No Is Not An Answer

On my journey to live out my calling, I have received a lot more no’s than yeses. I was reminded of this recently, when I started reading through one of my journals from the year after I graduated college. At the time, I was working at a bookstore in Boston, and sending my resume out to almost any youth ministry job posted online that I could find. In a journal entry from February, a full nine months after graduation, I wrote about receiving a letter from a church saying they were going with a more qualified candidate. A letter—Do you [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2018-11-12T13:33:48+00:00November 12th, 2018|Categories: Acceptance, Calling, Character, Courage, Hope, Identity, perseverance, Success, Uncategorized|Comments Off

The Hero’s Journey

Ever notice that many of our favorite books-turned-movies all follow the same formula? Katniss, Harry Potter, Frodo—the story is always the same. Sure their lives and situations look different, but their journeys, not so much. At their core, each of these stories is about a normal, seemingly everyday person faced with an impossible quest. But why are we so enamored by them when we aren’t faced with the arena, becoming a wizard, or the daunting task of destroying an evil ring before it destroys us? What about the hero’s journey speaks to you and me? All this month, we have [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2018-10-18T18:45:26+00:00October 29th, 2018|Categories: Acceptance, Calling, Character, Courage, Failure, Fear, Health, Hope, Mental Health, perseverance, Success, Uncategorized, Waiting|3 Comments

When It’s Actually Ok to Compare

On meeting Insta Puppies & Getting Over Comparison

The Stump of a Redwood

When Change, Changes You

Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me About Moving Far From Home

What if They Don’t Like Me?

Rewiring Our Body Image: #MyBodyHas

Learn: Anything Can Happen in 2019

No Is Not An Answer

The Hero’s Journey

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