Hope – Page 9 – Melissa Schlies

Learn: Ways I Step Back

Ever notice how the most healthy life practices, are often the hardest for us to do? Like keeping a regular exercise routine, taking time to rest, or sticking to a healthy diet. For some reason, these actions that seem like they should come naturally, are usually the ones we must fight to maintain. As if there is something in us—or in the world around us—trying to keep us off track. The same can be said for our schedules. Often at the root of struggling to live a healthy life style, is all the things competing for our time. Our job [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2018-10-08T15:12:24+00:00September 27th, 2018|Categories: Anxiety, Balance, Courage, FOMO, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Routines|Comments Off

Gratitude: An Antidote to Anxiety?

I grew up about a mile from the ocean. Not the always sunny, tropical, palm trees in my backyard type of ocean. Rather the New England, the water is always cold until August ocean. But still, I grew up near the beach. A good part of my childhood summers were spent playing in the sand, and racing with my sisters to prove who was daring enough to dunk first in the icy salt water. There’s something about growing up near the ocean that gets inside you. Even, I would say, becomes a part of you. And yet, growing up, I [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2018-10-08T15:13:20+00:00September 24th, 2018|Categories: Anxiety, gratitude, Health, Hope, Mental Health, Routines|6 Comments

You’ll Figure This Out

Do you remember your first day of school? Having to figure out what classroom you belonged in, where to sit, and who to talk to? All of your new classmates and even your teacher seemed at least a little scary. And, if like me, you changed schools at an older age, that first day felt even more daunting. For some reason, the older we get, the greater the potential to feel self conscious. Because, no matter what our age, Beginning new things, in new places is always hard. As a kid, I thought new things were hard because I was [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2018-08-20T15:59:21+00:00September 10th, 2018|Categories: Change, Courage, Failure, Fear, Hope, perseverance, Uncategorized|2 Comments

Learning How To Make Change

When I was a kid, and my family moved to a new town, I wasn’t asked if I wanted to move. When my parents decided to have more kids, they didn’t consult me. At two years old, I couldn’t tell them to send my new baby sister back to where she came from (though I did try). And when my mom decided to stop homeschooling my sisters and me, to send us to public school, it wasn’t a choice. When we’re kids, most big changes aren’t up to us. Rather, those choices fall under our parent’s jurisdiction. At least, they’re [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2018-08-08T14:05:11+00:00August 2nd, 2018|Categories: Change, Courage, Fear, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Making Decisions, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Why We Need To Ask For Help

We all know what it feels like to be down. We’ve all had days, or even weeks of feeling low. We know the sting of disappointment, and the ache of loss. If we’ve lived on this earth for more than a decade, chances are we understand pain. But what do we do, when the pain becomes too much? When I was twenty-seven, I woke up one day to the deepest ache my soul had ever experienced. I told a friend that it felt as if someone had shoved me into the depths of the darkest waters, and was holding me [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2018-07-23T16:06:48+00:00July 30th, 2018|Categories: Courage, Health, Hope, Mental Health, Relationships, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Why We Try

One of the most memorable characters I have ever met through reading, is Mrs. Havisham. From Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, which I (mostly)read for a class in college, Havisham isn’t actually a “Mrs.” at all. Yet, she is unforgettable. Left at the altar decades before we meet her in the book, Havisham is still wearing her wedding dress. Having commanded all of her servants to leave everything in her house the same as it was on her wedding day, her beyond rotten wedding cake still sits on the table. She is living in the decay of her dream. When her [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2018-07-09T21:29:58+00:00July 2nd, 2018|Categories: Character, Courage, discipline, Hope, perseverance, Purpose, Routines, Success|Comments Off

In Between

I started thinking about my high school graduation in eighth grade. I blame it on the fact that my older sister had just started college, and when I went to visit her on campus, I wanted to stay. College life looked so cool. Then, I started “dating” a senior. I would say blame that on the fact our school was eighth through twelfth grade, except we met at the local ice skating rink. Going to the same school only encouraged the relationship. “Senior Boyfriend” introduced me to his other friends who were also seniors, and all of them too had [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2018-07-09T21:22:26+00:00April 23rd, 2018|Categories: Hope, perseverance, Uncategorized, Waiting|6 Comments

Love Learn Lead April 5, 2018

It seems almost unfair that the grey skies of winter often give way to the rainy days of spring, before the sun finally warms our days more consistently. Conversely, last week, I saw a friend who lives in the desert out west. She told me that other than a few weeks a year, every day is sunny where she lives. And I wondered, would I miss the rain, if I lived in the desert? Important things happen in the rainy, in between months. Here in the Northeast, it is when the first plants of the season begin to take root. [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2018-07-16T19:28:37+00:00April 5th, 2018|Categories: Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, perseverance, podcasts I love, Uncategorized, Waiting|Comments Off

When Our Story Is Too Small

When I was a kid, I was always telling stories. I had a BIG imagination. With my friends or sisters, we’d create these elaborate, imaginary places for us to live. Then we’d create some sort of conflict or drama to work through together. Whether imagining life on a ranch (I loved horses), or as singing and dancing pop stars, we were never bored. Oh, what childhood looked like before technology. But the interested thing about our imagination, is that it doesn’t leave us when we become adults. We just seem to use it for different things. Sadly, it’s often the [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2018-07-16T21:17:26+00:00March 26th, 2018|Categories: Courage, Fear, Hope, Identity, Story, Success, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Love: Storytellers I Love

Art has a way of bringing truth in through the backdoor. In other words, if I was to tell you something uncomfortable, yet true, I could say it to your face. Say the words as clearly as can be, and you could choose to ignore me. Or I could write my message in big letters on cardboard, stand on the corner outside your house, and yell at you as you passed by. Chances are though, it would only shut you down. But if I painted you a picture. Sang you a song. Told you a story. Rather than reason with [...]

By Melissa Schlies|2018-07-16T21:21:43+00:00March 22nd, 2018|Categories: Courage, Hope, Lead, Learn, Love, Love Learn Lead, Story, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Learn: Ways I Step Back

Gratitude: An Antidote to Anxiety?

You’ll Figure This Out

Learning How To Make Change

Why We Need To Ask For Help

Why We Try

In Between

Love Learn Lead April 5, 2018

When Our Story Is Too Small

Love: Storytellers I Love

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