Habit Making – Page 5 – Melissa Schlies

Why Sleep Matters More Than We Think & How To Get More Of It

A few years ago, I was listening to photographer, Chase Jarvis, interview Ariana Huffington about her book, The Sleep Revolution. She began by detailing why sleep became such an important and personal crusade for her. She said it all started when she, herself, had a physical and emotional breakdown after consistently not getting enough sleep. And she spoke these words, that I haven’t been able to get out of my head: “Right now, we take better care of our smart phones than we do of ourselves. Like I bet everyone…right now knows how much battery remains on their smart phones—if [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-08-26T19:13:41+00:00August 27th, 2020|Categories: Adulting, Balance, Depression, Habit Making, Health, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Mental Health, Routines, Self Care|Comments Off

How to Create Time When There Seems Like There is None

When I left my full-time job in youth ministry, suddenly, I didn’t have to be anywhere. I had so much free time. No one was expecting me to be showered, dressed, and ready to go by nine in the morning. Or by eleven in the morning for that matter. Needless to say, I discovered quite quickly, I needed a routine. Until I found my next career, I needed a place to be. Or at least, I needed a purpose to fulfill each day, beyond doing laundry or grocery shopping. For some part of each week, I wanted to do something [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-08-23T21:29:38+00:00August 24th, 2020|Categories: Adulting, Anxiety, Balance, Habit Making, Health, Routines|Comments Off

The Real Secret to Creating A Sense of Balance In Your Life

Baking bread is one of my favorite creative endeavors. Kneading dough is therapeutic. And the smell of bread baking in the oven is heavenly. Only, when I first began learning how to make bread, it wasn’t great. In fact, I wouldn’t use the words “therapeutic” or “heavenly” to describe my experience. Honestly, using the words “melt down,” would be more accurate. At least, if we’re talking about the day I tried to make Challah bread to bring to a friend’s house for Easter. Yes, I had ignored the cardinal rule—never try a new recipe on anyone other than your family—but [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-08-19T10:09:16+00:00August 20th, 2020|Categories: Acceptance, Balance, Body Image, discipline, Failure, Habit Making, Health, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, perseverance, Practice, Routines|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

Five Reasons Not To Ignore Self Care During Times of Change

There are two kinds of change in this world: The change we long for and the change that finds us. Before 2020, the timing of these changes were typically different for each of us. For me, I got married after a lot of my friends but before all of my sisters. And when my first career was ending, some of my friends’ jobs were just taking off. But then COVID hit, and change found us all. Our world came to a stand still, and our lives changed in ways we are still discovering. Collectively we’ve all experienced trauma, while individually [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-06-30T15:30:26+00:00July 2nd, 2020|Categories: Balance, Change, Habit Making, Health, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Mental Health, Practice, Self Care|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

Are You Too Feeling Pandemic Weary?

Over the past few weeks, Tony and I have begun a new, unintentional ritual. Every morning, just as we sit down to pray before starting our day, I look at him. He looks at me. And we say, “It’s another day.” Then at least one of us (usually me), lets out a rather large sigh. Because it’s one more day of social distancing, one more day of shelter in place, and one more day of not knowing how long this will last. And all of this is getting terribly heavy to carry. The worrying about loved ones, the concern over [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2020-05-15T18:41:01+00:00May 18th, 2020|Categories: Habit Making, Mental Health, perseverance, Self Care, Social Distancing|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

Why Sleep Matters More Than We Think & How To Get More Of It

How to Create Time When There Seems Like There is None

The Real Secret to Creating A Sense of Balance In Your Life

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

Nine Signs Your Routine Is Off

Sometimes, Change Isn’t the Problem

Five Reasons Not To Ignore Self Care During Times of Change

Creativity—Why even Try?

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