2016 has been a really weird year. Harambe was taken from us, Kim Kardashian slaughtered Taylor Swift’s career, and I’m pretty sure I’ve kept Burger King in business with my frequent trips (I’m a bitch for Chicken Fries).

However, the weirdest thing about 2016 is that every aspect of pop culture seems to be an amalgam of different times and different concepts. Fashion trends come from literally every decade since the 1920s, the music spectrum starts at one end with emo jams and ends with Britney Spears’s new singles, and TV has us enthralled by the cool 80s style of Stranger Things. Past personal brands are also something big amongst today’s youths. We have emo making a serious comeback and cool, beach-y Hollister style has also made a resurgence.

Personally, I’ve found myself adopting a lifestyle we all thought to be as dead as Harambe. Today, I would like to publicly come out as a Goth.

Now, when you hear the term "Goth", your mind will immediately jump to screamo jams and Hot Topic mall rats. While these were pillars of the ancient Goth ways, being a postmodern Goth takes on many different attributes while still sticking to the very basic tenants of Gothism. Todays Goths take on many different appearances. It’s not all about wearing all black or adorning as much Hello Kitty accessories as possible.

You could see a Goth in a gorgeous sundress and golden hair. You could see a Goth with boxer braids and light wash jeans and a Comme des Garcons tee. Postmodern Gothism isn’t about what’s on the outside, it’s about what’s on the inside. Goths of the present and the past both embrace the darkness. It’s all about accepting the call of the void and the inevitable despair that awaits us all.

Being Goth is about knowing the darkness is #realrecognizereal and inside of us all. You can have a bright and sunny demeanor but know that the call of the void is the swaggiest thing a person that is too old to be angsty can hear. Myself, I find my style to be "garbage can cool", which isn’t exactly 2000s Goth, but I looooove the void, so why wouldn’t I embrace Goth culture? I love Lana Del Rey, whose entire discography sounds like one big lament. Doesn’t that sound pretty Goth-y? I don’t have any regard for my well being, for I guzzle Hot Pockets like a champ and refuse to look both ways as I cross the street. Doesn’t that sound Goth-y? And let's not even begin on my long studious journey into Wicca.

Goth isn’t about the clothes you wear or the thickness of your eyeliner. It's about knowing in your soul that the darkness will consume us all. Remember that.