Change – Page 3 – Melissa Schlies

When You Find Yourself in a Desert

Two summers ago, when travel was still fun and easy, Tony and I went to California. We began our trip by eating our way through San Francisco, and staring at the Gold Gate Bridge. Then, before wrapping our trip up in Sonoma, we camped in Big Sur. We crossed Bixby Bridge. Pitched our tent in the middle of redwoods. And spent quite a few afternoons and evenings walking the gorgeous beaches. We saw the purple sand, and even spotted a few dolphins. But in the middle of it all, we noticed something strange: Our hands felt different. They were still [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-10-27T13:33:29+00:00October 26th, 2020|Categories: Change, Faith, Hope, perseverance, Waiting|Comments Off

This Isn’t the Season

Last week, on a cool fall morning, Tony and I walked down the streets of our new city. Though we’ve been here about a hundred times over the past fifteen years, I still say, “New” because we live here now. We’re no longer visiting. That day, we were heading to do our annual screening for our health insurance. When we arrived, we checked in with the receptionist. Then one at a time, we went into a small room where the technician drew the curtain. She measured our height, waist, and—the part I was dreading—our weight. But as she said my [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-10-22T00:39:09+00:00October 22nd, 2020|Categories: Acceptance, Balance, Body Image, Change, discipline, Failure, Health, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, perseverance, Practice, Self Care|Comments Off

What To Do When Finding Your Routine Feels Impossible

When I was a teenager, every September, I’d get grumpy. Not because I was upset to be back at school. In fact, if you look at my extracurriculars in High School, you’d see I practically lived there. But each fall, the beginning of a new year was especially difficult for me. (This is where I send a shout out to my mom for loving my teenage self) For almost the entire first month of school, I’d come home every afternoon in a horrible mood. I was exhausted from my day, overwhelmed by homework, and basically hated my life. But then, [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-10-16T14:39:15+00:00October 19th, 2020|Categories: Anxiety, Balance, Change, discipline, Habit Making, Health, Hope, Practice, Purpose, Routines, Self Care|Comments Off

Hope, For When Life Feels Like It’s Falling Apart

In Northern Ireland there sits a cylindrical building on the side of a cliff, overlooking the ocean. It’s known as Mussenden Temple and once was the library of a great lord. With windows all around it, inside there are magnificent views of the sea from almost every angle. And when we decided to explore the North on our second trip to Ireland, Tony and I put it on our “must-see” list. Only, when we went to visit, it wasn’t the Temple that stuck out to us. That morning, it was the usual damp, foggy weather we’d grown accustomed to in [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-09-13T14:24:58+00:00September 14th, 2020|Categories: Change, Character, Conflict, Courage, Hope, Travel, Uncategorized|Comments Off

On Finding Motivation & Three Ways to Get Your Routines Back on Track

A few years ago, I followed an online influencer for a while who commonly told her followers: “You are in charge of your life.” Over and over, she talked about how we choose how we respond to our circumstances. That we have control over our futures. That life doesn’t have to “happen to us,” in fact, she would ask “what if life is happening for us?” For that season, she inspired and encouraged me to take some steps I needed to take in my life. Only, it wasn’t long before I realized that her words were only half the story. [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-08-16T16:33:10+00:00August 17th, 2020|Categories: Balance, Change, Habit Making, Health, Hope, Routines|Comments Off

Nine Signs Your Routine Is Off

Before I experience it anywhere else, I feel it in my chest. I wake up in the morning to an anxious tightening in my lungs that makes it hard to breathe. And it’s as if my body knows before my brain does that I am overwhelmed. I can’t see the forest for the trees. I know I have a lot to do. Only, I can’t figure out what to focus on or accomplish first. I may not even know what day it is. For me, these experiences and feelings are my first clues that my routine is off. That my [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-08-12T20:49:26+00:00August 13th, 2020|Categories: Adulting, Anxiety, Balance, Change, Habit Making, Health, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Making Decisions, Practice, Routines|Comments Off

Sometimes, Change Isn’t the Problem

Sometimes, change isn’t our problem. I know it feels like a weird time to say this, as change is all many of us have experienced this year. Not only that, but many of the changes that have come our way, haven’t been good. The difficult part of change, isn’t always the change itself. Only the difficult part of change, isn’t always the change itself. Rather, it’s the many minuscule reactionary changes that it sets off in its wake. I’ve been feeling this especially since our move last month. As I shared two weeks ago, after eight years of trying to [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-08-08T23:28:06+00:00August 10th, 2020|Categories: Adulting, Anxiety, Change, Habit Making, Health, Practice, Routines|Comments Off

Is COVID Taking Away Church?

What do you do when the place you’ve gone to most for spiritual comfort, strength, and community, is no longer an option? Or, at least physically not an option? That is what many of my friends and church-goers across our country have been asking and struggling with these past four months. The restrictions of many States, have prohibited their usual gatherings. But where some churches and their staffs have taken social distancing seriously, and have engaged in mental gymnastics trying to continue to serve their congregations, many aren’t having it. They’ve said the restrictions are persecuting them for their beliefs. [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-08-02T14:46:41+00:00August 3rd, 2020|Categories: Calling, Change, Church, Faith, Hope|2 Comments

The Surprising Way to Keep Living in the Midst of Difficult Change

About twenty-five hundred years ago, the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus said, “The only thing that is constant is change.” It makes me wonder what he would have thought of 2020. The year in which the only thing besides change that seems constant, is the spread of COVID. We still haven’t seemed to rid ourselves of it, so the changes to our daily lives have been endless. “The only thing that is constant is change.” --Heraclitus In our state alone, the rules of social distancing have been modified numerous times. Just last week, I learned I’ll have to take a COVID test [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-07-29T22:59:30+00:00July 30th, 2020|Categories: Change, Courage, grief, Health, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, perseverance, Self Care|Comments Off

What You Don’t Know About The Change You Want

On a cloudy day back in February, Tony and I drove down a street we’d never been before. We passed our destination, then quickly I pointed out an ally at the end of the block. Tony took a left and found a parking spot, like it had been there waiting for us all along. We got out of the car, then walked back to the main road, and turned the corner. We walked toward the house we were there to see. Coming from the opposite side of the block, our realtor was walking toward us with a smile on her [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-07-26T20:57:47+00:00July 27th, 2020|Categories: Change, Faith, grief, Hope, perseverance, Waiting|Comments Off

When You Find Yourself in a Desert

This Isn’t the Season

What To Do When Finding Your Routine Feels Impossible

Hope, For When Life Feels Like It’s Falling Apart

On Finding Motivation & Three Ways to Get Your Routines Back on Track

Nine Signs Your Routine Is Off

Sometimes, Change Isn’t the Problem

Is COVID Taking Away Church?

The Surprising Way to Keep Living in the Midst of Difficult Change

What You Don’t Know About The Change You Want

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