Teen Angst

This weekend Cailly and I had the pleasure of freezing to death at the base of Mt. Washington (site of the worst weather in the entire country...of course we'd go there) surrounded by a thousand sleep-deprived mountain bikers. It was all about eating beef stew and finding something to talk about for 24 hours straight. So as you would have it - the topic of teen angst came up. Mostly because my sleep-deprived mountain biking husband uses the term quite often around my little sister and fellow blogger. She is a teen, but it's up for debate whether or not she suffers from teen angst herself.

Their conversations went something like this:
Cailin: It's cold.
Hubby: Stop with your teen angst Cailin.
Cailin: I am so not teen angsting. I'm not going to lie.
Hubby: (Snorts) You are full of teen angst.
Cailin: I don't even know what it is.
Hubby: I rest my case. Pass the GORP.

And then this other mountain biker was like: what is teen angst? And I thought, what a good question. The dictionary says it's a feeling of anxiety and insecurity. But, I think if you put the word 'teen' in front of it, it takes on a life of its own. For example if my mom said to me (as the rational adult I now am): 'Darling, I would love to see you in more dresses.' (as she often does, going as far as sending me anonymous dresses in the mail), I would maybe consider the merit of her suggestion. Maybe I'd even buy a dress. But a few years ago - when I was an angsty teen - perhaps it would have reacted differently. Something like freaking out and yelling, 'what is that supposed to mean?', and then pound-pound-pound up to my room and slam the door, 'I knew you hated me! I may as well move to [insert best friend's name here]' house! You probably wouldn't even miss me!' Something like that.

Erin