The time between Christmas and New Years Day is always an interesting time. The family is together, the kids are out of school and 2019 now looms on the horizon. In the week between these two holidays, one may feel a particular sense of being between two times. On the one hand, there is the year behind us and on the other, the new year ahead.

It is a natural time of reflection, both on where we have been and where we want to go. It is a time to consider our successes, our failures, our good qualities and our faults. Maybe it’s time to break old habits that we have clung to for years for no good reason. Perhaps new ones are in order as we delve into the new year.

This time of year reminds us that our past doesn’t have to define our future.

On today’s front page, the Daily News continues what has become something of a standard practice in recent years. Through Dec. 31, two articles each day will revisit some of the most important and impactful stories of 2018. Just as individuals reflect on their own experiences during this past year, so too will we look at the past year as a whole in Beaufort County news.

As with anything in life, it’s been a mixture of good with the bad. On the one hand, we have triumphs, meaningful transitions and stories that lift the very soul. On the other, there’s the bad and the ugly — death, crime and heartache.

As a local newspaper, the Daily News is a reflection of the happenings in our community, for good or for ill. On a smaller, yet no less significant scale, each of us goes through such peaks and valleys in life.

Whatever your experiences have been in 2018, take the time to reflect on them. Ask yourself how you have changed from this time last year. In doing so, you may just make yourself stronger in the future.