I love the time before and around New Year’s Day. As a coach/speaker/author who has spent almost 30 years studying, writing and teaching in the area of human potential, this window of time–ripe with possibility and potential–always excites me. Yes, January 1 is just another day, but it also represents an invitation to step into new ways of seeing, being and relating to one another–and to ourselves.

The Austin weather looks chilly, so my family will probably end up spending a cozy night cooking at home this New Year’s eve. Right now it’s a tossup whether we’ll watch a comedy chosen by my 12 year-old or do a burning bowl ceremony (!), but regardless of what we do, some reflection will be on the menu.

Here are four questions I’m asking myself, my husband and my clients as we move into this fresh, New Year:

1. What did I learn about myself in 2014? This could be a personal life lesson or one related to your career or professional path.
2. What do I need to embrace, remember and celebrate from 2014 AND what do I need to release and let move on down the river?  In transition? Be gentle on yourself and read support tips here.
3. What is uniquely mine to do in 2015? This speaks to your calling and life purpose. Just sitting with this big question may begin to stir up some interesting terrain. What awaits you at the intersection of your passions + gifts?
4. What do I need to set myself up to be successful in the New Year? Imagine it’s New Year’s eve 2015. What type of support did you call in to help you manifest your intentions? What self-care practices did you adopt to help you function at your optimum?

Yesterday, with quite a bit of reluctance, I turned down a big professional opportunity for the spring. It looked exciting, challenging, juicy, fun and potentially very lucrative–right up my alley. But as I sat with this opportunity I kept hearing one of my key mantras, “Just because I can, doesn’t mean I should.”

If I took on this new project–on top of my current workload–it would consume a lot of my time and creative energy and leave very little space for me to envision, plan and gestate “What’s next,” (I’m sitting with some big ideas right now). And I would have cheated myself out of the opportunity to open up to–and be fully present for– what I know is coming, but I’m not yet able to see.

Subscribe here to Live Inside Out, a weekly blog written by life balance teacher and Career Strategists president, Renée Peterson Trudeau. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping and more. Thousands of women in ten countries are becoming RTA-Certified Facilitators and leading/joining self-renewal groups based on her award-winning curriculum.  She is the author of The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal and Nurturing the Soul of Your Family: 10 Ways to Reconnect and Find Peace in Everyday Life. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and 12 year-old son. More on her background here.