It's Avril Lavigne's birthday, but let's hang up the dickies and jump off our skateboards. Because to truly celebrate the motherf---in' princess of pop-punk requires more than a nostalgic trip down "Here's To Never Growing Up" lane. Sometimes, life gets complicated (uh-huh) and we need someone to talk us through the manic panic. So, when everything’s going wrong, listen to Avril Lavigne.
When you feel directionless, like you know where you want to be but no roads lead to that destination, listen to “I’m With You.” You’re adrift, and there are no traffic lights guiding you to your desired location. Sometimes when you’re a hapless, map-less tourist walking about life, you need to allow someone else to take hold of the reins and help lead the way. Take me by the hand, take me somewhere new. I don’t know who you are, but I’m with you.
When your personal life is as barren as an Arizona desert, listen to “Everybody Hurts.” Those fleeting feelings of loneliness creep up at the most inconvenient of times and sucker punch you in the gut. You might revel in and relish your independence and prefer it for the time being, but that doesn’t mean that here and again you don’t long for companionship. Everybody hurts some days. It’s okay to be afraid. Everybody hurts, everybody screams. Everybody feels this way, and it’s okay.
When you’re working and working and working toward a dream that’s taking longer on the uptake than you expected, listen to “Runaway.” Maybe this dream is a goal. Maybe it’s as simple as a weekly task. But the dense emotion of trudging through all the hard work and finding you’ve somehow taken two steps back snatches the wind right out of your sails. Stay there, come closer, it’s at your own risk. Yeah, you know how it is. Life can be a bitch.
When it’s just one of those days where all of the little things keep adding up, listen to “Who Knows.” You know the type of day: You got shampoo in your eye in the shower, you burned your toast and the avocados were rotten, the wifi won’t work, your car is doing that weird thing again, you keep dropping everything, and on and on. Those days suck, and harping on the minor frustrations can be deemed trivial. But we all have those days, and thankfully, days end. Who knows what could happen? Do what you do, just keep on laughing. One thing’s true, there’s always a brand new day.
When the anxiety gets so bad that you’re clutching your chest and gasping for air, listen to “Anything But Ordinary.” Steady your breath. Hear the words. Calm the nerves. You can’t control how anxiety attacks you, but you can control how you attack anxiety. What’s causing the torrential downpour in your brain? Find the root of the problem, and see if you can’t use anxiety as a motivator to make positive changes. Sometimes I drive so fast just to feel the danger. I want to scream. It makes me feel alive.
When you’re caught up in the “what ifs” and living in the future instead of the present, listen to “Freak Out.” Every day, we feel the push and pull from the people around us, whether it’s the intentional prodding from relatives or the unintentional pissing contest we thumb through on Facebook. Worse, we feel the push and pull from ourselves. We feel behind, we feel loserly, we feel inadequate. Those feelings are fine, so long as they don’t define. We’re all living at our own rate. Stop paying mind to the expectations and do what you need for you. I’m gonna close my eyes. I can’t watch the time go by, I won’t keep it inside. Freak out, let it go.
And when those cursory moments of pure joy drop by, listen to “Rock N Roll.” Because everything’s not going wrong—at least sometimes. When you take a minute to look around, you realize your life isn’t the disaster-piece you thought it was. It’s merely looking a little worse for the wear while you’re smoothing the rough edges into your masterpiece. Remember these moments and remember bliss. What if you and I just put up a middle finger to the sky? Let them know that we’re still rock ‘n roll.
