Learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

When I was about 7 years old, I had a favorite dress. Oh I loved that dress. It was a rich tan colored velvet with cream colored knit sleeves. It came to just below my knees, had billowed out when I twirled around. I used to put it on and wear it around the house, feeling like a princess. When my mom put it away that winter's end, I was pretty upset, but she reassured me that when summer was over, she would bring it back out again.

That fall I remember standing by excitedly while she rooted around in the basement, looking for the "winter clothing" box. I quickly scooped up my dress before she had the box fully open and scurried up to my room to put it on.

Imagine the depth of my despair when I tried it on, only to discover it didn't fit anymore!

I had grown!

Mom tried to console me. She offered to take me to the store to get a new dress, but there was no dress like that one to be found. I mourned that dress for weeks!

I look back on that time and find it pretty funny now, but then it was the absolute end of my world. I didn't want to grow. I wanted the comfort and security of familiar things.

What I realize now is that living things MUST grow. If there is no growth, then there is no life.

This is significant. So many people grow physically, but never allow themselves to grow in other ways. I have returned to places I had moved on from years ago, only to find many of the same people doing the exact same things they were doing back then. They have taken their lives and wrapped them in the comfort and familiarity of things they know, in much the same way as I tried to wrap myself in the comfort and familiarity of that dress. They are still talking about the same things, eating the same foods, following the same routines. Oh, their children have grown, they have a little gray around the temples and maybe a little more or a little less around the middle, but everything else is exactly the same.

Have they really LIVED??

I have become a student of personal growth, and I have found over the years that I am much more open-minded, much more resilient, and much more excited than my stagnant counterparts.

Oh, I am sometimes afraid to try new things, just like everybody else, but I sure don't let THAT stop me!

"Learn to be comfortable with being a little uncomfortable"

This motto has served me well over the years. I have found that that which was once uncomfortable has become a part of my every day. Discomfort, shyness, mild fear.... these are emotions that we all experience. The thing that is so amazing is that it has always seemed when I am feeling the greatest discomfort from something, I reap the largest rewards.

8 years ago I walked away from a full-time 16 year career. I left behind my seniority, my training, and my pension to start a business from home. I think, aside from my choice of husband, it ranks as the single-most life changing moment ever.

Was I scared? You betcha!

I lost many nights sleep worrying about the decision. The day I walked in to the hospital and placed my resignation on my mangers desk, I thought I was going to faint. When my manager came to me later in the morning, and ask me if I wanted to change my mind, I wanted to say YES!

The first few months were tough. Nurses are in great demand, and I received job offer after job offer. My business wasn't up and running full steam, and I could feel myself waivering.

One night, I went in and sat next to my husband. I said, "Jim, I need your advice. I have received another job offer. I can work part-time or full-time. They want me so bad they will even let me choose my hours. I can work just mornings if I want to. Should I take it?"

My husband answered, "If you go back to nursing, your focus will be divided. When you are at your job, you will be thinking about your business, and when you are at your business you will be thinking about your job. You won't be happy, and neither will get the effort they deserve. You made a decision, and going back will not be the same."

I out-grew another dress!

I poured my heart into my business, and before I knew it I was achieving mare than I ever dreamed possible. After a year I was able to take my children and husband to Florida, to visit Disney world, something we had never been able to do when I worked a traditional job.

In the process, I learned a lesson that propels me to this day. Nothing good in life comes without risk and sacrifice. It is ALWAYS easier to "toe the line", and stick with the comfort, but in the end, you could miss out on so much.

A little bit of fear is sometimes a sign of greatness just around the bend!

Shelley Penney is a network marketing and internet marketing specialist with 7 years in the field. She is currently mentoring a small group of people to achieve financial freedom from home.