Friendship – Melissa Schlies

The Real Secret To Our Marriage (repost)

As we're talking about building routines in marriage this month, I'd thought I'd re-share this post on what makes the foundation of our relationship strong--our beliefs. Naming our beliefs and values are one of the first steps in building healthy routines in marriage. Do you remember, in high school, wishing you had the answer key to a hard exam? Even though you knew cheating was wrong, there was a part of you that wished for an easier way. For me, it was always my chemistry exams—which is ironic as here we are talking about a different kind of chemistry. That [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2021-05-27T20:10:17+00:00May 31st, 2021|Categories: Faith, Friendship, Habit Making, Marriage, Relationships, Routines, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Five Podcasts To Help Us Step Into Our Creativity

When I first became a youth pastor, I felt like what Shonda Rhimes calls the F.O.D.—the “First Only Different.” I was the only female minister in our department. When I went to our network meetings with other youth pastors in the area, again, I was the only woman. And often, the only single person in the meeting. Don’t get me wrong, I met and worked with some great guys at those meetings. But, spending two hours of each month listening to men talk about balancing fatherhood with ministry—didn’t exactly help twenty-three-year-old me navigate being a woman in the field. I [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-03-11T23:58:07+00:00March 12th, 2020|Categories: Change, Creativity, Friendship, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, perseverance, podcasts I love, Success|Comments Off

Five Important Lessons I’m Learning About Friendship

Have you ever been to a school dance or wedding reception, where the DJ was really good? Where not only did they have a phenomenal playlist, but they also had fantastic transitions from song to song? When this happens, the music literally doesn’t stop, and neither does the dancing. Sometimes, I wish it was like this with friendships. Similar to the way a DJ smoothly changes from one song to the next, I wish our friends would move in and out of our lives just as seamlessly. Ok, truthfully: I wish some friendships would never end. Period. But because people [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-02-27T11:56:27+00:00February 27th, 2020|Categories: Adulting, Friendship, Lead, Leadership, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Relationships, Self Care|Comments Off

Common Place Friends: Why Some of Our Friendships Don’t Last

A little over eight years ago, Tony and I left our church. It happens all the time. People leaving their church. A person, couple, or family decides they don’t fit, realizes they aren’t growing spiritually, or they get hurt by the leaders or other congregants, and they leave. Sometimes it’s messy, all the time it’s sad. For Tony and me, it was both. The fact that I’d worked at our church for over seven years, meant it came with its fair share of hurt and messiness. But then add in the fact that we each came to the church as [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-02-24T11:57:19+00:00February 24th, 2020|Categories: Acceptance, Adulting, Change, Friendship, grief, Habit Making, Relationships|2 Comments

5 Things I’ve Learned About Love & Dating (repost)

This is one of my most read posts. So I thought I’d share it again on this year’s Valentine’s Day Eve. The other night, Tony and I were telling each other about some of the dates we went on in high school. I shared a time I went on a date with a guy even though I knew he wasn’t good for me. And he talked about borrowing his mom’s mini-van to pick up a girl for a dance, which reminded me of my first real date with a boy. He too picked me up in his mom’s mini-van. We [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-02-06T15:56:22+00:00February 13th, 2020|Categories: Fear, Friendship, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Marriage, perseverance, Relationships|Comments Off

Confession: I’m a Bad Neighbor

Last week, while I was working in our apartment, I started to hear these loud noises coming from the down stairs unit. At first I heard the pounding of a hammer. Then it sounded like the cabinets in the kitchen were being ripped out of the walls. I peaked out the window to find two maintenance vehicles parked outside. I shrugged my shoulders, and figured something went wrong with one of our neighbor’s appliances. Then, I went back to work. The next morning, I got a text from Tony: “Did you know our neighbors downstairs moved out?” I told him [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-02-06T00:20:34+00:00February 6th, 2020|Categories: Adulting, Change, Conflict, Friendship, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Relationships|Comments Off

What The World Needs Now

A couple of weeks ago, I sat on my couch with my closest friend. With mugs of tea and coffee in our hands, she asked me about my writing. As January was rather busy and hard, I shared I didn’t know what I’d write about on the blog this month. Then offhandedly, I said: “Probably something about relationships as it is February.” Then I added, “But that feels so cliche.” As this is the month of Valentine’s Day, it is kind of the “month of love.” Yet joining the chorus of other bloggers and online magazines sharing tips on how [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-03-26T16:41:26+00:00February 3rd, 2020|Categories: Acceptance, Calling, Change, Conflict, Friendship, Hope, Relationships|2 Comments

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

Love Learn Lead September 5, 2019

Has someone close to you ever said something about you that was hard to hear? The first time this happens it is annoying or frustrating, but because it’s the first time, you can brush it off. Only, if they say it again, or someone else close to you says the same thing in a totally unrelated situation, it’s hard to ignore. It’s not comfortable when people know us. When they know not just the good parts, but also the parts of us we wish weren’t true. In this way, our loved ones are mirrors we often don’t want to look [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-08-30T19:30:01+00:00September 5th, 2019|Categories: Balance, Change, Friendship, Habit Making, Leadership, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead|Comments Off

Three Questions to Ask After Rejection

As I shared on Monday, I recently joined a new writers group. The very first time we got together, I was so nervous. I was the first to arrive at the coffee shop where we met, and as I waited in line to order my coffee, I had a realization. All my nerves centered on this one question: “What if they don’t like me?” I felt like I was in junior high all over again. But then I realized, I probably wasn’t the only one who felt nervous about showing up to our newly formed group. Putting ourselves out there [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2019-07-25T15:12:05+00:00July 25th, 2019|Categories: Fear, Friendship, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, perseverance, Rejection, Relationships, Uncategorized|Comments Off

The Real Secret To Our Marriage (repost)

Five Podcasts To Help Us Step Into Our Creativity

Five Important Lessons I’m Learning About Friendship

Common Place Friends: Why Some of Our Friendships Don’t Last

5 Things I’ve Learned About Love & Dating (repost)

Confession: I’m a Bad Neighbor

What The World Needs Now

When Your Social Situation Changes

Love Learn Lead September 5, 2019

Three Questions to Ask After Rejection

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