As a teenager, I obsess over watching the hands on the clock tick forward, one painfully fast second at a time. As I watch the seconds pass, I begin to wonder how many I have left before my life will drastically change again. Every day I get older, and I wonder if I am doing enough to make my life worth it. When I die, will I be proud of what I’ve accomplished? How many regrets will I have? These questions that run through my head every single day have caused me to relate to the lyric “Will I spend all the rest of my years wishing I could go back?” This line is from Olivia Rodrigo’s song, teenage dream, the 12th and last track on her sophomore album, GUTS. While this song is the complete antithesis of the first song on the album, all-american b*tch, it dives into the complexities of getting older and the responsibilities that come with it. This specific lyric stands out from the rest of the song and, to me, encapsulates the entire song, and brings up the ideas of time moving and how every moment matters. The most prominent feeling that is brought to the surface when I listen to this song is the idea that I am currently living through the best years of my life. The fact that I am in my teenage years gives me limited responsibilities, great friends, and the ability to do almost anything I could imagine and contributes to this feeling. But with this comes the fear that I am not doing enough. Nobody knows when the peak of their life will be, and the simple fact that it will begin to go downhill on one unknown, random day contributes to this fear. Will the rest of my life be spent wishing I could go back to this time in my life? I constantly feel the need to actively live in the moment, and feel the need to succeed, because eventually I won’t be able to anymore. This lyric reflects a specific uncertainty in the future that I feel. I have no idea where I will end up in five, ten, or twenty years, and it forces me to live life to the fullest and best every day. The simple nature of time is brought to mind with this line. The fact is that time will continue to tick, no matter what I do. I will eventually not be in the same situation I am in now, even though it seems ages away. Time is completely irreversible, which only adds to the emotional turmoil of not having any control over the way it progresses. No matter what I do, lives will continue to be lived, and the clock on the wall will keep ticking forward towards the end. The lyric “Will I spend all the rest of my years wishing I could go back?” is an emotional reminder to me that time is constantly slipping away and I will be done with being a teenager before I know it. I keep my eye on the clock and think about my future, present, and past all at the same time, questioning what will happen to me as time continues to march on making sure that I am living each moment with no regrets.