The Great Change: a Study in Entropy
8 Nov, 2025
In very simplified terms, the first two laws of thermodynamics are as follows:
- Energy is neither created nor destroyed
- The transfer of energy results in an increase in the system’s entropy (a measure of disorder)
To extrapolate the second law of thermodynamics to my humble teenage life, any change to my daily routines and habits will result in increased disorder in my overall existence. I would hate this. I am a creature of habit. I thrive on the conformity of my daily rituals. I repeat the same handful of outfits, I take the same route to walk to class every day, I enjoy eating the same meals for lunch each week, the list goes on. I battle spontaneity with to-do lists and spreadsheets, for my weapon of choice is a color-coded calendar. Any minor altercation in my meticulously crafted planning would bring down the entire system as a whole. Unfortunately for me, adolescence is often equated to the metamorphosis of oneself in popular media. To reference “Let Down” by Radiohead:
One day, I am gonna grow wings
A chemical reaction
Hysterical and useless
I am not the same person I was a year, or a month, or a day ago. I will not be the same person in a day, or in a month, or in a year from now. The very cells of my body will die and be reborn in homeostatic harmony for as long as I am alive. Despite my will, change is inevitable. I will be forced to cross the great divide between the bliss of childhood and the reality of adulthood. And, according to the second law of thermodynamics, I must embrace disorder in order to do so. It’s a chemical reaction, isn’t it? Irreversible, inevitable, and impossible for a girl who lives by a plan.
Let us imagine an inciting incident of Great Change has entered my fixed system of organized routine. As a result, my life becomes more disordered. The Great Change derails my careful planning. I am no longer able to predict beyond my knowing, and I am terrified of the unknown. This, reader, is not a good thing. Now, let us assume that many incidents of Great Changes (notice the plurality) have decided to bombard my system with more disorder than it can handle. This, reader, would be detrimental to my existence. Some would argue that in this scenario, it would simply be easier to not exist at all. However, in my experience, I have found this hypothesis to be incorrect. To recall the first law of thermodynamics: energy is neither created nor destroyed. Thus, my existence—my consciousness, experience, and humanity—is neither created nor destroyed. Instead, I am perpetually destined to become new versions of myself. I will constantly become more disordered, increasing in entropy until I am no longer able to recognize the person I once was. I cannot erase my past self either, for she will shape who I become. These iterations of my being have learned that the only way to learn to cope with disorder is to experience it for yourself, to let it course through your veins and consume your every being. Or, in very simplified terms, the synopsis of this passage is as follows:
- You live
- And you learn
