All systems return to dust.

You build with intention. Clean lines. Pure functions. Elegant abstractions. For a moment, it exists in perfect balance. Then the moment passes.

Dependencies age. Requirements shift. The world moves on. This is not failure—this is nature.

The architect who resists entropy suffers. The architect who accepts entropy adapts. The architect who understands entropy builds with impermanence in mind.

Your microservices will drift. Let them. Monitor the drift. Services fail—design for failure. Databases corrupt—automate backups and test them like breathing. Code decays—refactor as ritual, not emergency.

Management will always want more. They cannot see what you see. This, too, is natural. They live in the world of features; you live in the world of foundations. Both worlds are real. Neither is wrong.

The junior developer fights against time, trying to build the perfect system that lasts forever.

The senior developer understands: there is no forever. There is only now, and the next maintenance window.

The master developer builds systems that expect to fall apart. Loose coupling. Clear boundaries. Graceful degradation. Not because they are pessimists, but because they have seen the truth: everything you build is temporary. Everything requires care.

Entropy is not the enemy. Entropy is the teacher.

The system that lasts is not the system that never breaks. It is the system that breaks in ways you can fix.

Accept impermanence. Build accordingly. Rest when you can.