Oh, the days of listening to pop punk bands and turning on the TV to shows like VH1's Top 20 Countdown; I remember it like it was yesterday. I wish I could go back to the time where it was perfectly acceptable to blast Panic! At the Disco or Fall Out Boy songs in any social setting, but unfortunately those days have come and gone...for most people anyways.

You see, I think that every kid has phases in their life that they go through. You have the phase where all you want to do is be around your parents, then you grow out of that and rebel against them. You go through a phase where you let your mom dress you in the cute sunflower dresses complete with a pair of Mary Janes, and then you grow up and start evolving in to your own style. For some, these phases may be short. You never know when you'll completely grow out of them, but eventually you do. I feel like one phase that literally every person on this earth has gone through is, what I like to call, the "teen angst phase."

Teen angst is essentially a phrase that describes how teens feel most of the time during their stages of development. Looking back at my old actions, I realized how dramatic I was when it came to simple situations. Now, I reflect on my actions and I've come to the conclusion that nothing has really changed. I still freak out, I still get that twinge of anxiety over little things. I make my life seem so hard when in reality it's actually quite simple. I still listen to that pop punk music that you can head bang and shout all the words to. It's what gets me through my walks to classes across campus and my workout at the gym. I know that particular genre of music may not be popular to most anymore, but I've come to gain a bigger appreciation of it over the years and now it's a part of me.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that my teen angst phase isn't really a phase, but a lifestyle. Of course I'm trying to remember that my little problems aren't huge ordeals, but I will probably continue to over-dramatize things on occasion. Everyone needs a little spice in their life now and again. I'm going to continue listening to my favorite pop punk bands, and I won't be sorry when I play "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" on the AUX chord. Maybe one day I'll get over my teen angst phase, but I don't think it will happen any time soon.