Teenagers in the World of Angst.

"Since I was born I started to decay, now nothing ever ever goes my way” is the chorus of the song “Teenage Angst” by Placebo, a rock band of the 90’s. This phenomenon is clearly a defining feature of the coming of age process. Teenagers’ normally experiment various concerns that are known as “teenage angst”. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as "a feeling of anxiety, apprehension and insecurity". 

During adolescence, things get harder. Usually, at this stage, teenagers’ start thinking about their future and begin asking themselves questions such as, which career would I like to achieve? what kind of studies it implicates? Thus, they start high school and try to seek for a first job. Moreover, they are curious of experimenting the world of love. Adolescents want to find out how it feels to be in love and be loved. Due to all this tireless pressure on them, it is completely normal to feel some angst. Angst is the result of stress and hormonal changes of the body during the puberty process. During this stage of development, teenagers change constantly their humor. They frequently get mad for any reason and purpose, they moan about life, they are pessimistic and think that anybody (not even their parents) understand their mindset. They consider that the only ones with such a weight on their back are themselves. Angst is part of the daily life of teenagers. It makes them lose control of their actions and feelings. Consequently, it makes them have such a negative image about everything. When they are undergoing it, they can prejudice people without any valid reason and totally ignore what just happened.

Unfortunately, angst can seriously affect teenager’s life. It can take over them and  it could be devastating. Not everyone can get along with it. In some cases, it can evolve into an emotional or mental problem such as depression, social phobia and in extreme cases, it can lead to suicide.  In Canada, youth suicide is the second leading cause of death with more than 280 suicides per year. This includes only the teenagers from ten to twenty four years old. Males are more likely to commit suicide since they are less open-minded when it comes to talk about their feelings and problems than women are.

Being a teenager is not about only doing crazy things and going to high school. It is also a moment of self realization, a process that is full of thoughts, dreams and plenty of feelings. It is a unique period of life that people will never experience again. Once you have passed through, you will never come back. You will be on adulthood. Angst is part of the difficulty of coming of age and it will be present all along the process. They key is to be self-conscious that all constant anxiety and insecurity about life as a whole would slowly disappear as we grow up. Afterwards, maturity comes and we enter into the world of adulthood.