Entropy is basically a useful quantity. It's no more mysterious than enthalpy or Gibbs free energy, both of which have also caused me confusion in the past. To

Entropy is basically a useful quantity. It's no more mysterious than enthalpy or Gibbs free energy, both of which have also caused me confusion in the past. To me, the issue with entropy is that it's initially presented without clear justification, so people don't know why it's important. Statistical mechanics made it clear to me that the state with the most entropy is the most likely to occur in equilibrium. (Statements about entropy representing "disorder" and whatnot in my opinion are handwavy, often lead to confusion, and should be avoided.)