It’s a truth, universally acknowledged, that middle school wasn’t a good time for anyone. Puberty sucks, friends suck, your taste in music probably sucks — and yet the aspect of middle school that most of us look back and cringe at is the scene of the random emo/scene/generic kid with stripy hair and an attitude problem phase. The phase that we all went through (don’t lie). And I’m here to tell you that it’s OK.
Don’t think of the time you spent stalking site models on Myspace, frying the life out of your hair with the straightener or brooding to My Chemical Romance as time wasted trying to be that cool “scene” (what does that even mean?) kid.
Don’t think of raccoon eyeliner as the war paint of a sad, pre-pubescent human train wreck.
Don’t think of your obsession with the words “cheese,” “dinosaur,” “narwhal,” “taco” or any other words you threw needlessly into conversations as a Facebook album you need to take down before you start seeking employment.
Don’t look back at your time in the “omG I’m so r4ND0M!!!!!!!” phase as time wasted embarrassing yourself with trashy Myspace icons, the xD emoticon, studded belts fromHot Topic or maybe even calf-high Converse.
Don’t think of your wardrobe of circulation-ending black skinny jeans and band t-shirts and those Jack Skellington hoodies as a total sartorial faux-pas.
Don’t think of your iPod filled with Blood On The Dance Floor, MCR, Fall Out Boy, Never Shout Never and Panic! At The Disco as a relic of tragic times past.
In fact, don’t think of your time in middle school with the raccoon hair and the beat-up Vans doodled on with Sharpie while you were bored in class and the music your mom hated as a time in your life to hide away in your closet along with the studded belt and skinny jeans. It’s OK. We were all there at one point or another.
We all struggled with trying to figure out what the heck Patrick Stump was singing in 90 percent of Fall Out Boy songs. We all struggled to find black clothes that matched. We all had bad side bangs, and we all walked into things because we couldn’t see through them. We all cried when we couldn’t go to Warped Tour. We all had to tell people that it wasn’t just a phase.
It’s OK to look back at this time in your life and shudder. But we all grew up, and we all moved on. Now we’re just fake almost-adults whose heads shoot up at the first notes of "Welcome to The Black Parade" and who still know what comes after “I chime in with a…” and who cringe when Timehop shows us Facebook statuses from when we were young and thought being depressed was cool. Don’t look back in anger — don’t see the time in your life as a 12-year-old as something to be ashamed of.
Think of that time in your life as a reminder that no matter what, you’ll probably never be a worse person than you were when you were 12.
