Freedom – Melissa Schlies

Reminder: One Size Doesn’t Fit All

For some reason, growing up, my closest friends were always night owls. They never wanted to go to sleep before midnight. When we had sleepovers, as teenagers, it was great. Until the morning, when I was wide awake in my sleeping bag, staring at the ceiling, sometimes waiting hours for them to wake up. I have always been a morning person. I am my best in the morning. I’m the most rested. My brain is clear. And, as a writer, I find the words flow more easily before lunchtime. But this last part, took me a while to figure out. [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2021-05-02T22:00:03+00:00May 3rd, 2021|Categories: discipline, Freedom, Habit Making, Practice, Routines|Comments Off

What Sourdough Bread is Teaching Me About Growth and Loss

This past December, as I stared down the social distancing winter we’re all in the middle of, I knew I had to take up a hobby. Sure, we still have a house that’s not fully decorated or furnished, but I needed a creative outlet where I could just play. Something with very little risk, and very little cost. So at the beginning of January, I started cultivating my first sourdough starter. I know it was very spring 2020 of me. But while everyone else was making bread during the first phase of the pandemic, we were buying our house. Now [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2021-02-19T19:14:12+00:00February 22nd, 2021|Categories: Courage, Food, Freedom, grief, Health, Hope, perseverance, Self Care|2 Comments

This Holiday Season, Don’t Be Afraid To Go Your Own Way

When most people think about Halloween, they think about carved pumpkins. Kids in costumes asking for candy. And, they probably think about almost everything spooky. I think about Chinese food. Now, I realize that may seem random. So I will explain. But first let me say, Holidays don’t always have to be what they’ve always been. This is something my mom taught us growing up. By doing so, whether she knew it or not, she created for us some incredible memories. And, it all began with Halloween. When I was a baby, my mom became a Christian. Not the go-to-church-every-Sunday [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-10-23T15:38:58+00:00October 29th, 2020|Categories: Change, Christmas, Creativity, Freedom, Habit Making, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Making Decisions, Social Distancing|Comments Off

Three Things To Do When You Want To Escape Your Life

Growing up, there was a common theme that ran through many of the movies I watched and books I read. The main character or hero was presented with a choice: Go follow your dreams OR stay where everything is familiar and always wonder what would have happened if you left. In ninety-nine percent of those stories, the hero left home. "Go follow your dreams" OR "stay where everything is familiar and always wonder what would have happened if you left." The protagonist said goodbye to all she knew, and set out on her own. Sure, in many stories, she came [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-07-22T23:05:02+00:00July 23rd, 2020|Categories: Change, Character, Courage, Depression, Freedom, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Making Decisions, perseverance|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

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

A Single Person’s Bucket List

When I was in college, a relationship expert came to speak at our Chapel* one day. As the historical joke/motto for our school was to expect "a ring by spring” if you were dating someone, it seemed fitting. Though I went to college for my education (and maybe, to meet a boyfriend), many of my peers were already looking for a spouse. During the talk, the expert encouraged us to do something I’d never heard before: to write a list of the characteristics we wanted in the person we’d marry. To think long and hard about the qualities we wanted [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-02-06T15:39:52+00:00February 10th, 2020|Categories: Fear, Freedom, Hope, perseverance, Relationships, Self Care|Comments Off

Just What You (May) Need to Hear

It is the second to last day of January. How did that happen? I don’t know about you, but 2020 has already thrown me a few surprises. Some good, some really hard, and more than a few I am not ready for—yet here we are. And as much as my planner self hates to admit, there are only a few things we actually have control over in life. We can fill out our Start Here: Dream Planners, and come up with brilliant strategies for how we want to approach 2020. But that doesn’t mean everything is going to go to [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-03-26T16:40:25+00:00January 30th, 2020|Categories: Adulting, Balance, Change, Freedom, Health, Hope, Lead, Leadership, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Mental Health, podcasts I love|Comments Off

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

Reminder: One Size Doesn’t Fit All

What Sourdough Bread is Teaching Me About Growth and Loss

Three Things To Do When You Want To Escape Your Life

What Helped Me Get Unstuck

When You Feel Stuck & Change Feels Impossible

Remembering Our Warriors on Memorial Day

A Single Person’s Bucket List

Just What You (May) Need to Hear

Three Ways to “Practice” Life

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