Why angst is a very common feeling of the coming-of-age process?

   This is a question that I asked myself and it was an enigma for many years. After analyzing my own life and others, I found two main reasons: Lack of experience and lack of knowledge. According to Longman dictionary, angst are “strong feelings of anxiety and unhappiness because you are worried about your life, your future or what you should do in a particular situation”.

 Lack of experience: When I was a child I imagined that if I eat an entire seed of fruit or vegetable, then a plant would grow in my body and I would live only for one month. I had the idea for many years and I never asked about that. Actually, when I studied Natural Science in the elementary school, I thought that the plant would have the roots in my stomach and its branches would grow in the veins and arteries, as consequence the branches would destroy my skin and I may die. I remember that, because of that fantasy, I used to have angst when I ate a fruit. In my youth, I had an experience that changed my crazy idea. One day, I ate a grape and accidentally I swallowed the seeds. Obviously, I suffered angst and stress after the accident and it increased in the next days. However, one week later, I asked to my mom when would be my death and she explained me all the reality. Afterwards, I never suffered again the same angst. As well as this experience I have had others that I have analyzed and I conclude the same idea: Lack of experience is very common in youth and it is a reason why young people have angst.   

Lack of knowledge: One of the most notable angsts that I remember in my youth is the change of my feelings. When I studied the elementary school, I didn´t like to be with girls because they seemed to be very delicate. Suddenly in the youth, I began to feel an intensive attraction. However, the enigma for me was the reason of: why I had had that change? Some years later, I saw a BBC documentary: “Inside the Living Body”. It explains how the hormones react in a body to stimulate the feelings. The narrator also mentions that, because of an unknowable reason, the most notable hormones´ change is in youth therefore, a person suffers a change in the feelings and likes from the childhood to the youth. Afterwards, I tried to relate this theory with my experience and I concluded that the lack of knowledge is another reason of the angst and it is natural in youth.

In my personal opinion, the lack of knowledge and experience are the main reasons of angst in young.