Melanie Spring

A phrase came out of me during Morning Pages two years ago. As if something else was speaking through me.

“The path to enlightenment is an old dirt road just off the highway of success.”

I held it for eighteen months. Didn’t know what to do with it. Didn’t know where it was going.

All while my life and work were burning.

For two and a half years, something has been tapping me on the shoulder. Asking me to claim her. I thought it was a baby. I never wanted kids. Told my husband on our first weekend together it was a non-negotiable. But something kept insisting.

It wasn’t until a week ago that I realized what I’ve actually been carrying isn’t a baby.

It’s a dragon. 🐉

And she’s done waiting.

Part 5 of The Reclamation is live.
(Link in comments.)

Today I celebrate my sister, . After more than a decade of growing their first location on Capitol Hill, she & her husband/business partner, Michael, opened their second location in Alexandria.

Huge congrats to for all their magic of sharing the love of wine with the DC area & beyond.

Side note: they have a concierge service that is like a wine club but way better. So, even if you’re not nearby, they can rock your wine world.

Love you, Michelle! BEYOND proud of you & all your magic. 💕✨

I used to think this quote meant finding people who cheer you on. Who clap for you. Who tell you you’re amazing.

But that’s not what fire does.

Fire burns. It destroys what doesn’t belong. It turns everything familiar into ash so something real can grow.

Setting your life on fire means being willing to lose the identity you built for everyone else’s comfort. It means watching people you love run away because your flames are too hot for them. It means standing in the burn and not running.

And the ones who fan the flames? They’re not the ones who make you feel safe. They’re the ones who love you enough to let you burn. Who don’t try to put you out. Who don’t pull you back into the small, familiar, comfortable version of yourself because your transformation is making them uncomfortable.

I’m in the fire right now. The Reclamation has burned through beliefs, relationships, identities, and everything I thought I knew about myself. And what I’m finding in the ash is someone I’ve been hiding for a very long time.

Some tried to put me out. Some ran from my burning building. And some — the real ones — fanned the flames.

You know which ones are in your life. And you know which ones you’ve been keeping around because their comfort feels safer than your fire.

Set your life on fire. And pay attention to who stays. 🔥

When The Reclamation began, I thought I was in a cocoon. 🐛

You know that stage — the gooey, messy middle where the caterpillar dissolves completely before becoming something new. I thought that’s what was happening. I thought I was becoming a butterfly.

But the longer I sat with it, the more I realized — what’s growing inside me isn’t soft wings. It’s fire. It’s a dragon.

And I’ve spent years hiding her. People-pleasing. Softening my directness. Not saying the thing because I was afraid of losing someone. Sanding myself down until I didn’t even recognize who I was anymore.

I have this ability to see people for who they can be.

Their potential. Their possibility. And for most of my life, it felt like a curse — because I’d see it, and they’d choose safety instead. I’d marry potential. Befriend potential. And then feel the heartbreak when they walked away from it.

But I’ve realized that was never about them. It was about me needing to stop knowing what’s best for everyone else and finally trust what I know is true for me.

The dragon is here. She’s not asking permission. She’s not apologizing. And she’s definitely not a butterfly.

Part 3 of The Reclamation is live. 🐉
https://melaniespring.com/blog/the-dragon-inside-of-me

I’ve been thinking a lot about siren songs.

In the myths, the sirens sang so beautifully that sailors steered straight into the rocks. They couldn’t help themselves. The song was too enticing. And by the time they realized they were off course, they were already smashing to pieces.

That’s what distraction does to a calling.

For years, I’ve worked with powerful people — founders, doctors, leaders — as they stepped into their real calling. The thing that lives in their bones and won’t leave them alone.

And I watched them struggle with the same thing I did.
The siren song. It looks like safety. It feels like love. It promises you everything. And it will wreck you.

I spent my whole career talking about purpose while drowning in my own life. Comfortable. Familiar. Small. Following every shiny thing except the one my soul actually came here to do.

I handed people the directions on how to hurt me and called it love. I put everyone else before me and wondered how I got lost. I followed the distraction instead of the calling.

It wasn’t until I decided to cleanse everything that I finally heard it.

The soul song. The calling. The thing that costs you everything and gives you back yourself.

This will only scare you if you aren’t willing to look in the mirror. But if something just tightened in your chest — if you felt that recognition — you already know.
You’ve known for a while.

New blog post is live. Comment SONG & I’ll DM you the link. 🙏🏼

And if you’re ready to stop following the siren song and start listening to what’s calling you home, subscribe to my weekly letters.

The reclamation continues. 🔥

[Photo of by ]

The last 3 years almost broke me. And I let it.

I spent the year overgiving, over-functioning, and running around shining my light for everyone else while nobody thought to ask what it was costing me. Including me.

The people closest to me put me on a pedestal and dumped their darkness at my feet. They said they loved me. They said they'd do anything. But when I screamed, when I sobbed, when I begged to be seen — few actually showed up.

And I don't blame them. I'm the one who taught everyone I didn't need anything.

But something broke open. My last f*ck walked out the door, and with it came the clearest thing I've ever felt:

I am done dragging my old life behind me.

So I'm burning it all down. Every pattern of people pleasing. Every version of myself I built for someone else's comfort. Every relationship I held onto because letting go felt like failure.

I'm calling it The Reclamation. The first phase? Identity Detox.

I'm not sharing this from the other side. I'm in it right now. And I want you to come with me.

The full story of why is live — link in comments.

I won't be sharing much on social media, so subscribe to my love letters (link inside blog post).

This is just the first domino.

I stopped waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel, and I lit that bitch myself. 🔥

Years ago, if you had asked me about women
I would have told you
it was hard to be around them.
They projected their beliefs on me.
I projected my trauma on them.
We were mirrors
neither of us wanted to look into.

Then I woke up.
Not all at once —
slowly,
the way dawn doesn’t ask permission.
I began to see the magic.
First in myself.
Then in them.
Then in the space between us
where something holy lives.

Now I host retreats
where women gather
to remember who they are.
They arrive carrying so much —
anxiety, worry,
old wounds dressed up as walls.
And then they see it:
their own views cost them everything.
Their own worries about what others think
kept them from the very thing they craved.
All it takes
is being willing to look at your own truth
to see it in someone else.

Now I have the deepest friendships.
The most powerful relationships.
The most magical experiences
with other women —
because I decided the growth was worth it.

These two women
I lovingly call my wives.
They have shown me
what it means to be held,
to be loved,
to be truly known.

It took me 45 years
to understand what intimacy feels like
when it’s delicious and loving
and whispers —
you are worthy.

On this International Women’s Day,
I wish you the tenderness
I feel in the presence of other women.
No gossiping.
No lying.
No posturing.
No hiding.

Pure and innocent magic —
because you’re worth it.

[photo of me, & .mcnickle by ]

I posted a job for a local Helpful Human on two local Vero Beach groups and have to say just how fascinated I am by humans. I live in a tiny town where I’ve built a most magical Soul Family, yet I am now seeing both sides of humanity in just this little microcosm.

One set is SO excited, wants to be my friend, and is sharing it with their friends.

The other set is ripping me apart, telling me I’m a monster, and sharing how I need to a get a grip on reality because I must suck to work for.

All from a little job ad looking for the most helpful of humans, not allowing resumes or cover letters, enticing people who may not have the “credentials” but can do the work. Helping people who normally would be overlooked... yet somehow I’m a “weirdo megalomaniac.”

The best part? A few years ago, it would have sent me into a tailspin. Every comment would have triggered me. Every hateful remark would have made me sick.

Now? I am sending my blessings to each and every one realizing their comments say more about them than me. And reveling in the fact that I’ve already received 43 applications in 24 hours and the posting doesn’t close for a week...

My heart is overflowing with gratitude that I get to do this work and grow this team so I can do more of this magical purpose-filled work in the world.

The best way to combat envy, hatred, and meanness is with love.

Our only job is to love.
I love you. ❤️

(photo of me & Fletcher lovingly captured by )