A few days ago, my wife said something that stuck with me.
She told me sheâs been thinking about setting up a greenhouse and turning it into her art studio.
Which (if you know me) instantly lit me up.
But then she paused and said something honest:
âIâm worried everything I make will just turn into clutter.â
And I felt herâŚ
That fear lives in do many of creators.
Because if you zoom outâŚ
What sheâs really asking is:
âWhatâs the point of making things⌠if they donât last?â
And that question leads to one of the deepest truths Iâve been fascinated about creativityâŚ
Entropy.
Thereâs a law in physics called the Second Law of Thermodynamics, simply known as âentropyâ.
Itâs a pretty complex concept of physics, but in simple termsâŚ
Everything in the universe tends toward disorder.
Things fall apart. Structures break down. Order returns to chaos.
You clean your room perfectly and a few days later, clothes are on the floor again.
You take a solid ice cube, leave it out, and it slowly turns into a puddle of water.
A fresh fruit falls, softens, breaks down, and returns to the earth.
Nature is going through entropy all the time.
And what makes humans interestingâŚ
is we temporarily do the opposite.
We take chaos⌠and turn it into order.
A blank canvas into a painting.
Silence into a song.
An idea into a business
And to do thatâŚ
We burn energy.
A lot of it.
Your brain. Your body. Your time.
You are literally using your life force to organize chaos into form.
We are reversing entropy
But at the same timeâŚ
We never really ignore the truth, do we?
That it just wonât last forever.
But what if thatâs the point?
Imagine youâre building a perfect sandcastle.
You spend hours shaping it. Detailing it. Protecting it.
And then the tide comes in.
The universe doesnât hate your castle.
It just doesnât make exceptions.
Everything returns.
So now you have two choices:
1. Only build things that last forever (you wonât build much)
2. Or build knowing they wonât
This is the paradox every creator lives inside of.
To create something meaningfulâŚ
You have to treat it like it matters deeply.
But to stay saneâŚ
You have to know it doesnât last.
You work like itâs everything. While knowing itâs temporary.
Thatâs the balance.
Thatâs the art.
Because if you only care about the final productâŚ
Youâll eventually stop creating.
It will all feel like clutter.
Like evidence of something that didnât âmatter enough.â
But if you understand whatâs really happeningâŚ
Everything changes.
You see, the value of what you createâŚ
is not in what remains.
Itâs in what it does to you while youâre making it.
Every piece you create is a moment of focus. A moment of expression. A moment where you brought order to chaos.
The creation is just the residue.
Which meansâŚ
That painting that never sells? That idea that never takes off? That project no one sees?
It already did its job.
It let you become someone who creates.
But I know, I knowâŚwhat about the clutter?
WellâŚa creative life does produce output.
A lot of it.
But the mistake is thinking youâre supposed to keep all of it.
Some things you keep, sell, gift, archive, or let go of completely.
Simply because they already served their purpose.
Creation is for transformation.
Not everything that grows needs to be kept forever.
Some things just need to be grown.
So build the sandcastle.
Let the tide come.
And smile when it does.
Because youâll knowâŚ
that was a beautiful way to spend your life.
Playing in the sand.
Stay creative,
