Youth Angst Unpleasant and Memorable

First dance, first kiss, first love. The fear of the unknown can be both exciting as well as intimidating.  The anxieties that we face growing up help define how we react and learn to similar situation in the future. These life experiences can be unpleasant and unsettling. The anxiety we feel is totally normal within reason I will explore the main causes of teenage anxieties primarily in the situation of attraction and emotions   http://panicdisorder.about.com/od/understandingpanic/a/normprobanxiety.htm

Fear of rejection: From my personal experience I remember the first girl I had a crush on. This was in grade 6. Like any typical dance at that time the boys where on one side of the school gym and the girls on the other admiring from distance I felt the anxiety settling in. This sensation was totally new to me and I was completely overwhelmed needless to say my first dance was not as magical as I had hoped, the pressure from my friends to go ask her to dance was staggering , all I kept thinking to myself was what if she says no I would be devastated.  What was more devastating was regretting not asking her to dance. I learned from this situation that the regret is greater than the initial anxiety felt. From then on I tried to live with as little regret as possible; the unpleasant anxiety would end up helping me be more courageous in the future.

Fear of the unknown:   First date, I was 16 years old and I was getting ready for my first real date. Not knowing what to expect and accompanied by the lack of knowledge in these situations. I didn’t ask my parents for advice I was way too shy to request their advice. Well the anxiety was defiantly settling in even the day before I think I may have slept two hours going over and over the possible scenario’s in my head. Should I hold her hand? What happens if we have nothing to say? The dreaded acquired silence! Do you kiss on the first date? Obviously with zero dating experience the evening was mediocre at best, the anxiety was overwhelming and hindered my ability to toughly enjoy the evening. I realized that learning to cope with anxiety is very important. Coping with this type of anxiety will only help you fully enjoy the experience in front of you.

Angst is defiantly a necessary evil as a youth, our lack of life experience and fear of the unknown help contribute to the anxiety.  Angst is a strong feature in the coming-of-age processes in my opinion and a very valuable one. If every situation came natural to us we would not be able to adapt or learn from them. More importantly without angst the experiences would be far less memorable

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