Amy Lu's View

Ah, spring. Yes, it’s April, and the time for flowers and brightly-colored dresses, eggs and hats and Peeps and holidays of renewals. 

And snow. Sigh. 

Meteorological bitterness aside, most people’s religious and spiritual calendars and inclinations agree this is a time of renewal. 

But renewal of what? 

I think because I’m in the Library Biz, at least still nominally, my thoughts immediately go to library checkout renewals. As in, “Your items have been renewed and you get to have them for another three weeks.”

My thoughts go to renewal as an extension…just like they did over two years ago when I blogged about renewal: https://amyluedtke.wordpress.com/2020/08/19/again-and-again/. (Yes, I recently wrote that I would no longer worry about repeating content, but I did check and discovered that I have posted about “renewal” before.) But my thoughts are a little different now. 

Now I’m not thinking so much about the possibilities of extension and continuation and how those might feel like promise, but if I really want or need all those opportunities for renewal.

I don’t have anything specific in mind. I’m just thinking about how I have automatic renewals for so many things: magazine subscriptions, our public radio membership, coffee purchases. It’s no secret that marketers love to get us to subscribe to things. Once we’ve done that, it’s more than likely that inertia will keep us continuing as members/subscribers (not to mention how difficult corporations make it to cancel a subscription).   

So while I’m anxiously, sometimes desperately, waiting for the rejuvenating energy that the renewal of spring brings, maybe I can take some time to make sure not all my renewals are automatic or unthinking. Do I need, or even still want, all the magazines and services and products I subscribe to? 

More than likely, the answer is “yes”–I love my Broadcast Coffee from Seattle and all the streaming entertainment services we have. I love the convenience of automatic renewals and would be really annoyed if I had to sign up for everything again. But still, it’s good to take a little time to see if I can declutter my life in some small ways. Maybe the subscription to “Wired” magazine can go…

More importantly, there are probably less obvious automatic renewals in my life that I should ponder and evaluate–thoughts, habits, relationships that I just keep continuing, without reflecting on if they still serve me well. 

This isn’t a way to announce that I’m ending any relationships. It’s been almost 17 years since Chad and I had a public vow renewal, and we’re successfully renewing and extending our marriage on a daily basis, in a combination of unthinking and intentional ways. We’ve chosen to “Choose again,” (to quote our understanding of a central tenet in one of our favorite book series, “The Hyperion” by Dan Simmons), and acknowledge that we’re continuously making a choice.

Coffee is NOT a choice, though. It’s a necessity. Without coffee–not just the caffeine, but everything about it–my brain wouldn’t be able to produce any intentional thoughts.