(April 5, 2012) -- We’re always coming up with problems—things to complain about, to mull and sulk over, to waste our lives on. Maybe it’s because we’re teenagers going through our emotionally unstable, melodramatic years, or perhaps it’s because we’re just inherently pessimistic creatures.

There are the usual topics of distress—grades, extracurriculars, our appearances, prom, college—and then there are the drastic ones. We worry about everything coming to an end, whether it’s the school year, high school, or the world. We feel as if we’re quickly running out of time; we won’t be around long enough to do all that we want to. We have yet to find our place in the world, to travel, to love! We worry about the future and whether we’ll end up living on a park bench. The list of our grievances is endless.

It’s natural to worry about things, but not to the point where we start wasting time on things out of our control. Teenagers need to learn how to sort their troubles out and recognize what issues really deserve time and attention. We’ve managed to scare ourselves into submission; we fret over things we can’t (or, in some cases, won’t) do anything about, thus making for sessions of self-pity and mindless complaints. There’s really no point in all of this, and sooner or later, we’ll need to grow up and be rational. We need to get a grip.

Girls need to stop worrying so much about whether or not they'll be asked to prom; if it happens, it happens. If not, there'll probably be a friend willing to go with you. But there's no use sitting around and anxiously biting your nails as you contemplate the "horrors" of going to a dance without a formal or proper date.

Not getting into the college of your dreams shouldn't be the end of the world; with the right amount of motivation and dedication, you can be successful and happy, regardless of where you go. It's important to remember that something better will likely be in store. Things will work out if you let them.

We’ve been told countless times to “stop sweating the small stuff” or to “cross the bridge when we get there.” It’s time to start listening. It’s important to realize that plans can and probably will go awry; it is very possible that, somewhere down the road, one will realize that to reach his life goal would actually mean becoming hopelessly miserable. We can’t expect everything to go smoothly; it won’t. At the same time, we can’t expect life to be wholly unbearable; it won’t be, provided we don’t sit idly by and watch everything fall apart.

We can rest assured that there will always be opportunities to improve ourselves and our lives. Eventually, everything has to work out, so why not start early and save ourselves days and weeks of worry and stress? Maybe we can give the ol' “woe is me” bit a rest.