Ringing in 2020 with positive changes

Crestview News Bulletin

2020: It’s a New Year and a new decade. What do you plan to do with this gift? As with any new year, we have the chance to make a fresh start, a new beginning.

It meant many things to me growing up in Southern California: watching the Rose Parade, either in person or on television; perhaps going to Disneyland after the parade; or having friends over to play board games and dinner — lots of fun activities.

Will you use this year to make positive changes, or continue with old patterns? Many people make resolutions. How many resolutions are kept through Feb. 1, much less Dec. 31? What we may need are lifestyle changes that will affect the rest of our lives, not just a few weeks.

We can choose to look at the new year/decade and be complacent, or we can see this as an exciting adventure. Jim, my husband, and I, choose to see this new decade as an adventure. What can we accomplish? There are many things we want to do, including making home repairs and upgrades, becoming more physically active, and traveling more.

There are also new skills or hobbies we can learn. Have you always wanted to learn to play the piano? Take some piano lessons. The Crestview Community Choir is looking for members, as are other organizations. Perhaps we can spend more time visiting those in assisted living and nursing homes. There are many ways we can use our time wisely.

We need to see time as a gift, rather than something that just passes by. As a child, I didn’t appreciate the gift of time and I wasted it, dawdling or daydreaming.

Now that I am older, I value time and realize that my time here on earth is limited and there are things I’d like to accomplish before I go to heaven.

Jim and I would like to travel. He wants to take me on a Disney cruise and enjoy the atmosphere. It has been quite a few years since we’ve been to Walt Disney World and we’d like to go there for a vacation. Naturally, we’d both like to go to California and visit family members.

There are many things to do, and truthfully, we have a very limited amount of time on this earth.

So, write down your goals, dreams and desires and work on making them a reality this year.

We can accomplish what we’d like with determination, hard work and the Lord’s help.

Happy New Year!

Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Ringing in 2020 with positive changes