The French always have a way to make things sound sexier and because I’ve been watching too much of Emily in Paris on Netflix, I decided to make my title sound tres sophisticated. Of course, my French has more of a Southern twang. I digress. I decided to explore a little bit of history of resolutions.

The most interesting historical fact about resolutions I found related to Julius Caesar’s time. According to history.com, Julius Caesar established the beginning of the new year as January circa 46 B.C. The name January comes from the two-faced God Janus. This spirit is said to have lived in doorways and arches. For the Romans, they believed Janus had the ability to look to the past year and ahead into the new year. Romans, in turn, would offer sacrifices to Janus and made promises to the God of good behavior in the new year.

We do something similar as we ring in the New Year. Typically, as the ball or whatever item drops where you celebrate, we sing Au Lang Syne which translates to times long past according to a Google search. We literally welcome the New Year while looking back to days gone by.

I am typically one that loves to make resolutions and lists for that matter. By nature, I am goal-oriented and have been as I can remember-from a planner in school to my favorite day in college-syllabus day (nerd alert!).

This year, however, I find myself with no really goals in mind which is kind of shocking. I keep remembering what a doctor told me when I asked how he was able to focus and not take work home with him. We are all guilty of that, I think. It’s sometimes hard to shut things off quickly- if only it was a light switch when you left work. He said something to me that was so profound yet so simple. He said, “I choose to be present wherever I am- home, work, etc.”

So instead of a lengthy list of resolutions this year, I am choosing to consciously be present wherever I am. It’s not going to be easy as there a number of distractions at both home and work but I am going to do my best. I’ll try to share how it’s going, but if I am in the moment, you may not hear from me.

Happy New Year! May it bring you peace and happiness. Be present.