Adulting – Page 4 – Melissa Schlies

Three Ways to “Practice” Life

When graduating high school or college, how many of us were ever asked, “What do you want to practice?” I am guessing that unless we were expected to pursue law school or medicine, the answer is—none of us. The question was usually, “What are you going to do now?” Doing and practicing have such different connotations. The first gives the impression that we’ve arrived in our occupation. While the second, seems to give permission to explore, improve, and even, mess up. I find it funny that the only adult careers where the word “practice” is used as a noun are [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-03-26T16:38:50+00:00January 23rd, 2020|Categories: Adulting, Freedom, Habit Making, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Practice, Preparation, Routines, Success|Comments Off

In 2020, Climb Your Mountain

Friend, the first time I climbed a mountain, I didn’t fully know if I was going to make it. It was so BIG. A few of the people I was with, had climbed the mountain before. And as we got ready to go, they talked about how there were some really challenging spots on the way to the top. I remember listening to them and wondering, What would I do, if I couldn’t make it? I wasn’t an experienced hiker. In fact, I had only recently begun to regularly go on hikes where I lived. My adventurous side had [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-03-26T16:33:23+00:00January 6th, 2020|Categories: Adulting, Calling, Change, Courage, discipline, Failure, Habit Making, Start Here|Comments Off

In 2020, Start Here

The few days right after New Years are always interesting. Like geese migrating with the change of a season, some of us flock to the nearest gym, where every treadmill or elliptical machine is taken. While others of us suffer through what I like to call the Holiday Hangover. It’s that exhausted, “What just happened” feeling we get when the alarm goes off for our first day back at work. Or, getting back into our pajamas as soon as we come home from said job, because we just can’t. And sometimes, if we’re truly unlucky, the Holiday Hangover includes [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-03-26T16:32:23+00:00January 2nd, 2020|Categories: Adulting, Change, Habit Making, Health, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Preparation, Routines, Start Here, 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

When Your Social Situation Changes

It’s so easy to take the leap into the job or dream we want, and not realize until later what we’ve lost. That somehow by moving toward something fantastic, we could also be moving away from something equally important. I can think of a few instances in my life where that happened, and most notably the loss was often Friendship. When our friends have always been there for us, we kind of assume they will be there in our next phase as well. That like our favorite pair of jeans or that blanket we got in Mexico, we can pack [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-09-04T13:20:24+00:00September 23rd, 2019|Categories: Adulting, Change, Friendship, Relationships, Uncategorized|Comments Off

How to Know It’s Time to Make a Job Change Part 2

A few years ago, I read the Divergent Series by Veronica Roth. Yes, sometimes I can’t help myself when it comes to YA novels. In the first book, the main character, Tris Prior, has to choose her profession and identity in an elaborate ceremony in front of the entire city. Living in a post-apocalyptic Chicago, Tris has to choose between the five factions that divide the entire population. Like taking a virtual reality version of the SAT, prior to the ceremony, Tris and her classmates took a test to tell them which faction would suit them best. Then they had [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-08-30T20:07:51+00:00September 19th, 2019|Categories: Adulting, Calling, Change, Courage, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Making Decisions|Comments Off

How to Know It’s Time to Make a Job Change Part 1

You have been in your job for a few years now. It was the job you went to school for, and the one you wanted since high school. But now, it’s not feeling like you. It could be that it's your work environment. Your boss is hard to read. Your co-workers are catty. Or you find yourself looking forward to the weekend more than you ever did in school (if that’s possible). You’d love to make a change but you can’t figure out if it’s your career or your job, you’re wanting to get away from. How do you figure [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-08-30T20:00:01+00:00September 16th, 2019|Categories: Adulting, Calling, Change, Conflict, Fear, Success|Comments Off

Five Changes I Wish I’d Made In My Twenties

Life is hard. There are dreams or goals we work for without any guarantee that they will ever happen. There are difficult family relationships for us to navigate. Friendships that never last as long as we’d like. Physical or mental ailments or allergies that wear us down or threaten to hold us back. And don’t even get me started on dating or marriage. Only sometimes, we are so focused on these things that we can’t see our biggest obstacle to living healthier and more joyful lives—is ourselves. Where some of our everyday behaviors are tripping us up. And possibly, even [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-08-30T19:50:23+00:00September 12th, 2019|Categories: Adulting, Balance, Change, Habit Making, Health, Lead, Leadership, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Mental Health, Preparation|1 Comment

When We Can No Longer Bounce Back

Non-academically speaking, college does a horrible job in preparing us for life. At least it did when I was there. As it tries to cram endless information in our heads, you think there would be more said about personal care. But in this regard, many of us are left to figure it out on our own. Freshman year, I had a friend who said that he and the guys in his dorm practiced what they called “addition sleep.” In other words, rather than getting a straight eight hours of sleep every night, they just took a nap here and there [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-08-30T19:40:36+00:00September 9th, 2019|Categories: Adulting, Balance, Change, Health, Self Care|Comments Off

Five Tools That Make My Life Better—& May Make Your’s Better Too!

When we got married, Tony had these two identical kitchen knives. As they cut better than any knives I owned, they became our go-to for making dinner. We both love to cook, especially together. So after nine years of marriage, these knives have become well-worn. Recently, after some frustrating incidents of trying to cut steak or even normal raw potatoes, it became clear that we needed some new knives. Tony found some online, and they were delivered to our door. Then about a week later, I went to make a meal that involved chopping a lot of vegetables. As I [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-08-17T20:04:25+00:00August 29th, 2019|Categories: Adulting, Balance, Declutter Your Mind, Habit Making, Health, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Success, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Three Ways to “Practice” Life

In 2020, Climb Your Mountain

In 2020, Start Here

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

When Your Social Situation Changes

How to Know It’s Time to Make a Job Change Part 2

How to Know It’s Time to Make a Job Change Part 1

Five Changes I Wish I’d Made In My Twenties

When We Can No Longer Bounce Back

Five Tools That Make My Life Better—& May Make Your’s Better Too!

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