People begin to dread going to the office. Others find themselves counting the days until Friday or the end of the term, and still others begin to anxiously await retirement. Still others become so repetitive in their work that they become bored with much of what they do. Whatever the symptoms, their presence indicates the need for self renewal. Gardner reminds people that in order for there to be renewal there must be growth as well as decay.
Renewal is the process of bringing results of change into line with our purposes.
We become caught in a web of fixed relationships. Change and self renewal are in fact very difficult. John Gardner contends that most of the obstacles to self renewal are in the mind of the person rather than in the environment. Most people, professors included, tend to have many self-defense mechanisms built up, and they use these defenses almost without thought. The very nature of being defensive is quite an obstacle to change and renewal.