You're Not Fighting Entropy. You're Surfing It.

You're Not Fighting Entropy. You're Surfing It.

Let’s get one thing straight. You’re going to die. So am I. Every single thing you build, create, and love will eventually turn to dust. Your body, your business, your relationships—all of it is on a one-way trip to disorder.

This isn’t some nihilistic bullshit. It’s the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and it’s the most fundamental truth of our universe. Entropy, the measure of disorder, always increases. Always.

So why the hell are you so busy trying to fight it?

The Problem: Your Picket Fence is a Prison

You’ve been sold a lie. A big, fat, comfortable lie. The lie says that the goal of life is to achieve a state of equilibrium. A nice, stable, predictable existence. A steady job, a white picket fence, a 401(k). It’s the American Dream, right?

Wrong. It’s a recipe for stagnation and decay.

Think about it. What happens when something reaches equilibrium? A cup of coffee cools to room temperature. A bouncing ball comes to a stop. A star burns out. Equilibrium is death. It’s the end of the line.

Life, on the other hand, is a raging fire. It’s a whirlwind of activity, a constant flow of energy and information. Life exists on the edge of chaos, in a state that scientists call far-from-equilibrium. We are not static beings; we are dynamic processes. We are open systems, constantly taking in energy from our environment to create and maintain order within ourselves.

“The problem is that we’ve been taught to seek comfort and stability, when in reality, life’s magic happens at the messy, unpredictable edge.”

When you try to build a life of perfect order and predictability, you’re working against the very nature of life itself. You’re trying to build a dam in the middle of a river. And what happens? The pressure builds, the structure weakens, and eventually, the whole damn thing comes crashing down.

Your anxiety, your stress, your feeling of being overwhelmed—that’s the pressure building. That’s the universe telling you that you’re fighting a losing battle. You’re trying to hold back the tide of entropy, and it’s drowning you.

It’s time to stop fighting and start surfing.

The Application: Stop Organizing Your Sock Drawer and Start Living

So how does this apply to your actual, real-world life? It means you need to stop obsessing over the small stuff and start embracing the chaos.

I see so many people who are paralyzed by the need for perfect order. They spend hours organizing their email inbox, alphabetizing their spice rack, or creating the perfect to-do list. They think that if they can just get everything under control, then they’ll finally be able to relax and be happy.

Bullshit.

That’s just another form of resistance. It’s a way of pretending that you can stop the flow of time and create a little pocket of perfect, static order. But you can’t. The universe will always find a way to mess up your perfectly organized sock drawer.

It makes me laugh to reflect upon some of the choices I've made in my former life. Man was I a fucking idiot! I used to resist change; I used to hold on to things that were not; I made horrendous decisions every day, all in the effort to preserve my ego and resist change.

It wasn’t until I let go of the illusion of control and started embracing the chaos that things started to change. I started saying yes to things that scared me. I started taking risks. I started learning new things. I started surfing.

And you know what? It was terrifying. And it was also the most alive I’ve ever felt.

This doesn’t mean you should just let your life fall into complete disarray. It means you need to distinguish between generative order and degenerative order.

Generative order is the order you create in the service of growth and adaptation. It’s the order of a well-designed system, a well-written piece of code, or a well-practiced skill. It’s the order that allows you to surf the wave of entropy more effectively.

Degenerative order is the order you create in the service of resistance and control. It’s the order of an alphabetized spice rack, a perfectly made bed, or a color-coded closet. It’s the order that gives you the illusion of stability while actually making you more brittle and fragile.

Stop wasting your energy on degenerative order. Start investing it in generative order.

The Takeaway: Your To-Do List for Surfing Entropy

Alright, so you’re ready to stop drowning and start surfing. Here’s your game plan:

1. Feed the Fire: You are a dissipative structure. You need a constant flow of high-grade energy to maintain your order. This means eating real food, getting quality sleep, and exposing yourself to new ideas. Stop feeding your body and mind processed junk. Your life is a direct reflection of what you put into it.
2. Embrace Stress (the good kind): There's a difference between chronic, soul-crushing stress and the acute, hormetic stress that makes you stronger. You need to challenge yourself. Lift heavy things. Have difficult conversations. Learn a new skill. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. This is how you build your capacity to adapt.
3. Tune Your ECS: Your endocannabinoid system is your surfboard. You need to keep it in good shape. This means managing your stress, reducing inflammation, and, for some people, using cannabis as a tool to restore balance. As Dr. Bob would say, cannabinoids help you "flow" by improving the efficiency of your energy expenditure. They help you adapt.
4. Let Go of the Past: The arrow of time only moves in one direction. The past is gone. It exists only as a memory in your head. Stop clinging to it. Stop letting it define you. You are not who you were yesterday. You are who you are choosing to become right now.

Closing

Look, you can spend your whole life trying to build a fortress against the universe, or you can learn to ride the waves. You can be a Backward-Looking Person, clinging to a dying past, or you can be a Forward-Looking Person, surfing into an open future.

The choice is yours. But remember, the tide is always coming in. You can either learn to surf, or you can drown.

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