RIVER VALLEY- Throughout 2023, I have shared many experiences, both bad and good, that have happened in our lives, as well as in the lives of others. Most recently, I shared our terrible experience of my family losing their home to the Little Rock tornado in March, and our loss of our beloved family labrador just before Christmas.
But with the new year comes new hope for a better year ahead. In fact, in life’s many lessons and experiences, we might say that the new year is an opportunity to take a positive step forward into a year that can bring better days ahead for all of us.
Our world is in turmoil on almost every level. Nations are at war, innocent people are being targeted for nothing more than their race, gender, religious beliefs, or, for other reasons that are beyond my ability to comprehend.
Locally, every community has their politics, points of pride, and local cultures and customs that can be viewed as both positive and, may we say, “head scratching”, to be nice.
And personally, we all know, better than others, the areas of our lives that we are doing well in everyday, as well as aspects of our lives that we can honestly say that we probably should make an effort to improve in the upcoming year. It may be a job, financial, health wise, or our relationships with others, but, I dare say we all have something we need to focus on for improvement. In my case, the areas that need attention are too numerous to list in one story.
For my wonderful wife, Elaine, and myself, we look forward to putting a tough 2023 behind us and looking forward to a much better 2024. Family health concerns and major adjustments lay ahead for us but hope springs eternal for the hopes of a much better 2024.
If you follow major league baseball, you know that each year, spring training is a special time of the season. Teams report to warm climates to begin a month of training and practice to prepare for the upcoming season. Part of what makes this time so special is that every team is undefeated during spring training, and every team is optimistic for the upcoming season. Much like spring training, we are all hopeful for a great upcoming year, and just before it starts, we all have that hope of a good new year.
Many Americans will begin diet and weight loss resolutions, and many will give them up just a short time after the new year. That’s just the way it goes. Some will stick it out and modify their lifestyles to lose weight, or to stick to that exercise plan. Any way you look at it, it is all about discipline and the desire to be successful. From my perspective, the same principle applies to other areas of life. A positive attitude and the determination to stay with it and focus on the end goal or result, applies to so many aspects of our life. Not giving ourselves excuses to explain failure that is often times a matter of just giving up and taking the easy way out, applies to so many situations we find ourselves in each day. Like everyone else, I have been successful in some cases, and unsuccessful in others. I guess it is part of what makes us human.
So, for whatever it means to anyone who reads this story, I have target areas of my life that I want to improve in 2024. To reach those goals, I had to be honest with myself, and that was hard.
So to all of our readers, we hope that you have a great year in 2024; one that gives you the opportunity to take a positive step into the future. If you had great difficulties or tragedies in your lives in 2023, we hope that 2024 will be much better for you.
All of us at RNN are so thankful for you, our readers and subscribers, and we wish all of you nothing but the best for the new year!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
