Courage – Page 2 – Melissa Schlies

What if the Change That Feels Like Loss, is Actually Good?

Hello friends, last year, Tony and I went to California for vacation (remember traveling?), and I learned something about change in the Redwood forest of all places. Then, of course I wrote about it. It felt like such an important lesson for me that I thought I'd re-share with you for a part of this month's series on Change. Enjoy! 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 [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-07-13T15:07:53+00:00July 13th, 2020|Categories: Acceptance, Change, Courage, Depression, Failure, Faith, Hope, Preparation|Comments Off

What Helped Me Get Unstuck

To best appreciate this post, read this first. The hot July sun tried to pierce through the trees, as we made our way down the trail, only the tree cover was thick enough to keep us cool. My sister and brother-in-law were visiting us from Massachusetts, and we were showing them one of our favorite places, Ricketts Glen State Park. At this point, we had hiked the trails that pass by the majority of the waterfalls in the park, but we wanted to make a stop at Adams Falls as well. We walked down the path to the bottom, where [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-07-06T14:50:18+00:00July 9th, 2020|Categories: Change, Conflict, Courage, Faith, Fear, Freedom, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Making Decisions, Preparation|Comments Off

When You Feel Stuck & Change Feels Impossible

As we've all been in a time of great change this season, this month all the posts here will be about change in some form. Today, I am re-sharing a post from a few years ago about when there was a change I needed to make that felt impossible. I hope it gives you hope for any changes you are longing to make. Six years ago, on a hot, sunny Saturday over Labor Day weekend, I stood at the top of a waterfall. I stared at the cool pool of water collecting just before spilling over the edge, and debated [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-06-29T15:40:02+00:00July 6th, 2020|Categories: Anxiety, Change, Courage, Fear, Freedom, Hope|Comments Off

Change Isn’t Pretty: Why We Don’t (Always) Have to Despair When We Watch The News

More times than I can count, someone close to me has said the following: “Melissa, you hate change.” In some situations, it’s been said like an accusation that stung. In others, there was a tone of compassion. And always, it was in response to me lamenting about a situation in my life I had no control over. A situation in my life that meant: Change was happening whether I liked it or not. Over the past month or so, there have been anti-racism marches in countless cities and towns across the US. And though they mostly consisted of peaceful protesters, [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-06-28T11:43:02+00:00June 29th, 2020|Categories: Change, Conflict, Courage, Depression, Fear, Hope, Racism|Comments Off

To Fight Racism, We Need to Better Understand Racism (A Few Resources to Help)

If your friend called you in the middle of the night, upset, what would you do? Before getting up and driving over to their home, before making a plan on how best to help them— You’d listen, right? You’d ask them to take a deep breath, then to tell you what was wrong. You wouldn’t come over and fix the problem—because you don’t even know what the problem is yet. You wouldn’t tell them to call you in the morning; you care too much about them. You would listen. On Monday, I shared where I am at on my journey [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-06-03T22:46:38+00:00June 4th, 2020|Categories: Change, Conflict, Courage, Good Books, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Racism|Comments Off

On Learning How to Fight Racism as a White Person

Recently someone on twitter asked writers what is one thing they are really good at that their readers may not know. In the moment, I couldn’t think of anything, so I kept scrolling. But later I realized, because of all the words I share, you may not know—I am a really good listener. Listening, for me is like a superpower. Not that I always do it perfectly. But for some reason, there is something about me that makes people feel comfortable sharing information about their lives with me. Especially, if they don’t know me at all. The first time I [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-05-31T20:08:36+00:00June 1st, 2020|Categories: Courage, Fear, Racism|Comments Off

Creativity—Why even Try?

This post was originally slated for March, but then the Pandemic hit. Today, as we begin to open our world back up, it feels like a good time to revisit the topic of Creativity. As now, more than ever, we may need to be creative. A few years ago, Tony and I went to our first Michelin Star restaurant—by accident. We were on our dream trip to Tuscany, and we were late getting back into the town where we were staying. Online, I’d found three possible places for us to eat, but when we went to the first two, there were [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-05-27T12:59:19+00:00May 28th, 2020|Categories: Beauty, Calling, Courage, Creativity, Habit Making, Health, perseverance, Self Care|Comments Off

Remembering Our Warriors on Memorial Day

"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.” —G. K. Chesterton Today, in the US, we celebrate all those who have given their lives for our country. Namely, we honor all the men and women in our military who bravely fought to protect us, and never came home. However, this year, our country has fought a war unlike anything our generation has ever known. This year, war has come right up to our doorstep. The enemy, unseen, has inflicted our most vulnerable. It’s infiltrated our most [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-05-24T21:27:52+00:00May 25th, 2020|Categories: Courage, Freedom, grief|Comments Off

To The Class of 2020, & The Lessons We’re All Learning

When the clock strikes Midnight on January 1, 2021, all of us are going to feel like the class of 2020. Collectively, we will feel like we survived the most widespread trial of our time—with all the politics and conspiracies that went with it. And, if we’re in a better place (Lord, we pray), we will feel like we’re graduating from one of the most challenging years of our lives. But right now, in May, academically speaking, the real Class of 2020 deserves their due. As many of you know by now, I was a youth pastor for over seven [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-05-13T23:50:41+00:00May 14th, 2020|Categories: Acceptance, Adulting, Change, Courage, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Success|Comments Off

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

What if the Change That Feels Like Loss, is Actually Good?

What Helped Me Get Unstuck

When You Feel Stuck & Change Feels Impossible

Change Isn’t Pretty: Why We Don’t (Always) Have to Despair When We Watch The News

To Fight Racism, We Need to Better Understand Racism (A Few Resources to Help)

On Learning How to Fight Racism as a White Person

Creativity—Why even Try?

Remembering Our Warriors on Memorial Day

To The Class of 2020, & The Lessons We’re All Learning

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