Positive points: What tests us shapes us

Spending lots of time rushing around and eating too much has slowed down a bit. 2025 is coming to a close fast, and we look forward to a new year. But, let us not push 2025 out the door too fast. Sure, there have been bumps in the road but unless we have bumps, we can't appreciate the smooth sailing we've enjoyed. "Bumps in the road" is an idiom meaning temporary setbacks, minor obstacles or small problems that slow down progress but don't stop the overall journey. The best gift we can give ourselves is to realize the bumps give us opportunities to learn from our mistakes and misfortunes. Throughout much of 2025, there have been many challenges for some of our special Positive Solution Tour Guides, loss of family members, personal illnesses and surgeries. If you ever see some of our guides on the street doing tours of Jonesborough, please take the time to tell them you appreciate all the time and effort they put into learning the history of Jonesborough and sharing it with our visitors. There are not as many of us; Covid-19 changed the face of tourism in many ways. But we still love to share Jonesborough and our region with visitors. Jonesborough is all decked out for Christmas and it creates a magically environment for the kids and adults alike. Our list of blessings goes on and on – far too many to mention in one column. Now at year's end, we just wanted you to think about how your bumps in the road might have changed into blessings as some time has passed. So as the year comes to a close, take another look at your challenges and see how many of those actually turned out to be blessings. It's a positive thing to do. All of us at Positive Solutions Through Stories & Tours wish you a New Year filled with blessings. Happy 2026! ••• Linda Poland is Jonesborough's resident storyteller.