Eleanor Roosevelt said, "Do one thing every day that scares you." What are you doing right now that scares you? Knowing you only live once, what chances are you taking? To do anything scary means accepting discomfort as the norm. It requires developing the courage to choose discomfort over comfort because no one can have both, at least not at the same time. Unfortunately, coasting is what many of us do best. We say we have 30 years' experience but what we have is one year of experience 30 times over. We are okay with that because we are accustomed to average; not rocking the boat; living under the radar. To make matters worse, the world is helping us all stay comfortable by providing the creature comforts we feel we cannot live without; things that keep us as average on the highway to mediocrity. The status quo is readily available to us all - a place that's nice but with no promise of growth. We must commit to embracing discomfort, learning from it, and using the lessons we learn to make us strong.

I recently celebrated another birthday and was reminded once again that half my life was over. And as I age, I am beginning to realize that to accomplish the things that I want to before my time is up, I would need to endure some discomfort. We all like being comfortable. The slightest discomfort can send many of us into a tailspin. We love our comfortable lives where there is little or no turbulence, and we try to do everything we can to keep it that way. A good example is the health directive to wear masks during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Many have refused to wear a mask because it's uncomfortable and have chosen instead to risk their lives and the lives of their fellow citizens. To make this worse, this push-back regarding masks have a lot to do with being Republican and Democrat, in addition to the refusal to be muzzled. As if the virus gives a rat's behind what your political affiliation is.

Everyone wants to be successful but without being uncomfortable. We don't want the virus but we also don't want to follow the regulations that go a long way to protect us. In essence, we do our very best to avoid discomfort at all costs. Unfortunately, where there is no discomfort, they can be no growth or success, so we find ourselves at a crossroad - should we abandon comfort to experience growth? Or should we stay in our comfortable little box and leave things as they are? In reality, amazing things happen when we are brave enough to tolerate discomfort because it is in those times that we open brand new doors.