Writing to forget

It is so easy to overlook how beautiful it is to be able to wake up to a new day.

I go to sleep every night with the blind assumption that I will automatically wake up the next day and have another shot at life. However, behind the scenes, there is a lot that needs to go right in order to allow this to happen.

As robust as the human body can be, as demonstrated by the exceptional human achievements of completing ultramarathons and physically standing atop the highest mountains on earth, the body has to fight to survive from one day into the next.

The default is to succumb into non-existence. To merely survive is the exception.

This is a law of the natural world.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics teaches us about the concept of entropy, which is a measure of the ‘disorder’ of a closed, isolated system and how entropy grows over time until it hits its maximum at a state of thermal equilibrium. A state of maximal entropy is also equivalent to a maximal state of being unable to produce Work (Energy over Time).

Disorder within a closed system continually perpetuates itself unless combatted by external inputs of energy.

To create order within a system that tends towards disorder by default, the deployment of energy is required.

A simple example of entropy is to consider life itself. There is a constant effort to maintain structure (avoid entropy) by consuming external energy (sunlight, food). In the process, life increases the entropy of (destroys) its environment and decreases entropy (builds or repairs) the organism’s body

- from the Great Mental Models Volume 2 by Farnam Street

The Practice

This reflection about the beauty contained within the start of every new day came about from a particular session of journaling on one early morning.

Daily journaling was introduced into my life back in 2018, and it likely started off as a curious experiment after learning about the concept of ‘morning routines’ from Tim Ferriss.

Journaling and morning routines are such loaded words that it is easy to get caught up in all the hype, which emanates from the whole “productivity hacks” space but fundamentally the tactics are simple to execute.

What it looks like for me is as follows:

• Preferably early morning, when it is most quiet and least distracting. When the rest of the world around me is still in bed.
• Some paper
• A pen

The next hurdle then comes the question of “what do I write about?”

You are in luck, because the truth is that the content does not really matter, even though you might experience a seemingly overwhelming emotional response that it needs to be that way. What is most important is to just start writing. You might be surprised by how much you have to say.

Do not expect or aim for perfection, just get started and see what happens.

Going on the journey of developing a daily journaling practice has helped me stash away a lot of the mental baggage that I was previously (unknowingly) lugging around with me all day. It turned out that a lot of that baggage just desperately wanted a safekeeping spot and had no desire of being carried around anyway.

All of the unoccupied mental space then became primed to receive fresh inputs of new information and ideas.

Storing in order to let go

Writing works well for me, as I am a notorious note taker by nature, but I find myself rarely ever going back into the past to review what has been written down.

In many ways, I find that journaling helps me forget what is unnecessary, park others for future reference and bring to the forefront the most important bits for the day.

I recommend using a physical pen and paper because there is something about the tactile experience that helps the process of digesting whatever information, ideas or memories that emerge.

Below are some of my favourite tools that I use for creating daily journals.

Some tactical tips

The key in building a sustainable habit that lasts is to keep things simple and enjoyable.

I use a Japanese (read: simple, clean, purposeful) Hobonichi Techo for the daily journal and a Lamy Safari fountain pen (read: refillable, comfortable).

The Techo is great because each daily journal entry is small enough to not intimidate the heck out of me every morning while also providing enough space to braindump everything that comes to mind.

On the other hand, the Lamy Safari does exactly what a pen should do, which in many ways makes it beautiful. My favourite thing about it is that it has a refillable ink canister, which is designed to receive ink from an inkwell, so it saves me from burning through set after set of single-use ballpoint pens.

Why the awe for the Second Law? The Second Law defines the ultimate purpose of life, mind, and human striving: to deploy energy and information to fight back the tide of entropy and carve out refuges of beneficial order.

An underappreciation of the inherent tendency toward disorder, and a failure to appreciate the precious niches of order we carve out, are a major source of human folly…

Poverty, too, needs no explanation. In a world governed by entropy and evolution, it is the default state of humankind. Matter does not just arrange itself into shelter or clothing, and living things do everything they can not to become our food. What needs to be explained is wealth. Yet most discussions of poverty consist of arguments about whom to blame for it.

- by Arthur Eddington.