Life has a way of filling up. Your calendar, your inbox, your mind—they all become cluttered with obligations, information, and noise.
Why do we do that? Maybe it’s because we’re afraid to sit still, to think about us and life.
The thing is – Renewal isn’t optional—it’s an essential maintenance tool for a life worth living.
It’s important, and not urgent, and typically gets put on the back burner except that flame never gets turned up.
Most people approach renewal like a luxury spa treatment: something nice to have when everything else is done. This is precisely backward. Renewal is the foundation that makes everything else possible. We need to make sure we’re doing this whole renewal thing.
Think of your life as a garden, not a factory. Gardens need pruning, nurishment, care…
They need seasons of rest.
And the most productive soil is the soil that’s been allowed to regenerate its nutrients.
What needs renewal in your life right now?
Maybe it’s your physical energy—the foundational currency that powers everything else.
Are you running on fumes? Eight hours of quality sleep will solve more problems than eight hours of grinding through work in a fog.
And maybe you can’t get 8 hours of sleep tonight. 8 x 7 days is 56 hours. Could you get closer to that 56 hours on a weekly scale?
Maybe grab 7 hours of sleep Monday through Friday that’s like 35 hours and then get 10 hours of sleep on the weekend.
Or what about your commitments? Most of us say yes to too many things, slowly diluting our effectiveness across a spreading pool of obligations.
Saying no isn’t selfish—it’s strategic curation of your most precious resource: your attention.
The beauty of renewal is that it compounds. Each small act of intentional reset—whether it’s a daily meditation, a weekly revolt against social media, a monthly purge of possessions, or an extended sabbatical…
These acts create space for what actually matters – things like taking care of your your inner world, and really knowing what you want
Don’t wait for renewal to happen to you. Make it a practice. Schedule it. Protect it. The world won’t do this for you. The world will take your time from you.
Remember: The goal isn’t to do more things. The goal is to do the right things, the things
you want to do, with clarity and energy.
Renewal isn’t about escaping your life. It’s about returning to it with fresh eyes.
Joe DiAndrea 