It happens every new year. People make resolutions about how they’re going to improve their lives, only to have that promise last a few days or weeks. But once in awhile, people follow through with their resolutions.

 

Over the weekend, a few people in Clearwater talked about what their future might hold in 2017.

 

“I’m getting married this year,” said Kim Lardy. “My resolution is hopefully to not stress out about wedding planning too much.”

 

Lardy says she’s tried resolutions in the past without much success.

 

“It’s so easy for me to talk myself out of doing things sometimes, but it’s harder for me to do that when I’m helping others,” she says.  “I want to do more volunteer work this year. It’s something I always think about, but I want to make time to do that this year. Hopefully, if I try to focus on a resolution to help other people, I might actually accomplish it.”

 

Mary Lenk and Jan Wicks say they’d also like to focus on being nicer to other people.

 

“People say they’re going to care of themselves and go to the gym, but after a week or two they give up,” said Mary. “But I want to smile more and be kind to people.”

 

She says when people ask her how she’s doing, she wants to tell them “I’m blessed”, because that’s the way she feels.

 

“I want to focus on the positive,” says Jan. “I had a really merry Christmas and I’m really excited about the new year.”

 

“Don’t look for the negative. If you live that way it takes you over,” she says. “It’s better to go with a glass half full than half empty.”

 

Tom Boone says he wants to be around for the New Year, so he’s being careful.

 

“Always stay off the roads on New Year’s Eve. I stay home. That’s my resolution,” he says. “I don’t go out and present a target for anybody.”

 

He said he usually doesn’t make resolutions because they’re hard to keep.

 

 “I’ve never been a resolution maker,” he says. “I know about 40 years ago I tried to make a resolution not to smoke, but that didn’t work out. Now I just want to be around the next day.”

 

Clearwater Librarian Cyrene Bastien is surrounded by books but says she is always too busy to read.

 

“I go, go, go and I don’t take enough time for me - although I did start zumba in August,” she says.

 

Now it’s time to make time for herself.

 

“I need to read more books and chill out a bit and not just go from task to task,” she says. 

 

“And I have to clean out my closet this year, too.”