Thermodynamics, shmermodynamics

I am not a neat person by nature. It's true. Some people I know find this surprising - I suppose, I may give the "air" of someone who is neat and tidy. That air is incorrect. (Note: by neat, I do not mean clean...I figured that this was an important clarification to make!) I remember in Grade 11, my chemistry teacher was teaching us about the Laws of Thermodynamics. I don't remember the 1st or 3rd law, but the second went something like this (to any chemists or physicists out there, forgive me for butchering the exact laws of thermodynamics) - Entropy, or the level of disorder, always increases. To explain this, he offered that we could use it as an excuse for our parents who would nag us to clean our messy rooms by simply saying "I'm just following the second law of thermodynamics". I realize this story proves my, how do you say, nerdiness - but it's one of the few things from that high school chemistry lab room that has stuck with me all these years.

I am constantly at war with my "increasing entropy" tendencies. And I will confess, that it hasn't been until this year that I have actually made conscious effort to make my bed...everyday. I started doing it because I figured if I can make the beds of my patients' at work everyday, I can certainly make my own. And as I departed on this journey towards tidiness I began to realize a few things - Elise's Laws of Tidiness, if you will.

Law One was that with the tidy bed (occupying a good 30% of my room) suddenly the rest of my room stayed moderately tidy. Which, goes completely against our second law of thermodynamics! Tidiness (or order), in fact, was actually increasing!! Take that, Physics!

The Second Law, was that the amount of tidiness was directly proportionate to the chaos of my life. For example, once I started taking a few moments to remain tidy/organized in my room, it would somehow lend towards being more organized in other parts of my life - including homework, errand running, managing of my social calendar and personal appointments, and even finances. On the flip side, if my room became messy, you could pretty much bet somewhere else my life was messy. Interesting, though, how this little effort of being tidy prompted me towards better living, one could even say more godly living.

I just finished spending a good part of my day thoroughly cleaning my room, going through my closets and dresser to get rid of old clothes...a sort of delayed spring cleaning. Admittedly, it had been messy for a while (apart from the made bed) - there had been a lot of chaos as of late (mostly good chaos - family vacation, friends visiting, day trips, and in between all the fun, 12 hour shifts at work). But I'm ready for the tidiness to take over.

Thermodynamics, shermodynamics.