As we approach the end of what can best be described as a tumultuous year, I think we can all agree we need ‘solutions’ collectively as well as individually.

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to see 2024 go. The political circus alone we’ve all had to endure over the last 18 or so months has been enough to push even the most sane among us to the edge of their wits.

Then you step back and look at the people we lost in 2024. The list is too long to even attempt, and I fear it isn’t finished being made yet.

I have to wonder, though, if we did lose more than we usually do this year. I think that because we are all getting older the more notables around us are getting older, too. With life, there is a 100% mortality rate, the pace of which increases exponentially as the years unfold.

In other words, it doesn’t matter who you are, the wolf is always at the door.

But let’s be honest with ourselves here – while 2024 might not have been a bowl of cherries, for some perspective let’s go back and compare it to a year like 1918.

In 1918 the planet was finishing up the barbarism of World War I, which caused an astounding 38 million casualties. But the biggest killer that year was an influenza pandemic that killed nearly 50 million people worldwide, including thousands right here at home.

Combined, nearly 8% of the world’s population was lost between the two. That’s just downright staggering if you think about it.

So, while there was surely a lot of negativity associated with 2024, it absolutely could’ve been much, much worse.

To be sure, there was also a lot of good to be found as well, even if you didn’t find it very often on the front page. With every disaster that hit, people stepped up en masse to lend a hand or offer support. Right here locally, I saw generosity from people who brought tears to my eyes.

But with all that said – yes, I’ll agree it’s time to grab the handle and flush 2024 into the past and move toward hopefully brighter days ahead.

How do you do that, you may ask? First off, forget ‘resolutions’ – we all need more ‘solutions’ in 2025.

Like a closet full of old clothes that you either can’t or won’t wear again, your life can become so compacted with ‘junk’ that there is no room in it for growth. Approach 2025 as a blank page ready to be filled with positive solutions.

Stop worrying – if you can’t control it, no sense in worrying about it. Stop blaming others for your troubles – take accountability for everything that happens in your life. If there’s something in it that you don’t like, you have two choices: accept it or change it.

What has happened cannot be undone. The only thing you can control is the future. Learn from your mistakes, and move on. Are you cheating the potential of your future with the burdens of your past? Write a new chapter and change your story.

Stop believing everyone else is more successful or happy than you. Every human being on this planet has their share of burdens – how you carry them defines your happiness.

There is no absolute right or wrong way of living – everyone is different, and thank God for that! What a boring place this would be if we were all the same. Celebrate the different shades of color in between the black and white that fill our existence. God made only one of you, and He’s never made a mistake.

Anger toward others, especially your family, hurts only you. If something has gone wrong with another person, it doesn’t mean it was necessarily a mistake. Perhaps it was merely a tough lesson that needed learning. Learn from it and move on.

Stop hating yourself. So, you aren’t the person you want to be, or the person you see in the mirror isn’t the one you want to see? Never forget that who you are does matter, and the world needs you. If you feel a change is needed, heed the words of Yoda: ‘Do or do not…there is no try.”

Never be afraid to say “I’ve done the best I can for today” and know that what didn’t get done today will be there tomorrow.

You aren’t the only ‘go-to person’ available – sometimes saying ‘no’ takes a burden off of you that creates an opportunity for someone else to shine (this is one I need to learn myself). Spread those opportunities around for your self-preservation and to give others a chance to grow.

You are not fighting the fight alone. You just have to trust me on this one – even if you aren’t a believer, prayer works if those prayers are offered sincerely and humbly. Always be prayerful, but remember – sometimes the answers we get might not be the ones we want, but they are almost always the ones we need.

None of these are ‘resolutions’ – they are ‘solutions.’ Let’s all make 2025 a year of finding solutions to making ourselves better individually so that collectively we will be better as well.