If You Grew Up In The ‘90s And Are Currently An Anxious Mess, Here Are 16 Reasons Why

This is why you're always so apprehensive.

1. The THX sound that played before movies.

THX

Why was this so frightening? Maybe because it was so loud, but honestly the noise itself sounds like someone pressed a key on a universe sized piano. Even at a lower volume, it feels like it's assaulting your eardrums.

2. The creepy temple guards from Legends of the Hidden Temple popping out.

Nickelodeon

Nothing made walking around corners more uncomfortable than the thought of an f'n temple guard lunging out at you.

3. Ruining your lighter colored Crayola marker by accidentally coloring over a darker color.

Crayola

All it took was one stroke of yellow coming in contact with green or black marker and it was ruined forever.

4. The most stressful board game of the decade.

Milton Bradley

In this game, if you land on particular spots, you have to press Daddy's alarm clock a certain number of times, hoping you aren't the one to trigger it and wake him up. This had to be way over the recommended dosage of suspense for a child.

5. The music that played when Sonic was drowning.

Sega

How is anybody supposed to focus and get something done when the audio equivalent of the word panic is blaring in the background?

6. Pretty much everything that happened on America's Most Wanted.

20th Television

You see all of these stories of criminals doing terrible things and of course all of them are still on the loose, so you can't help but wonder if you're going to have the misfortune of being their next victim.

7. Trying to outrun the Abominable Snow Monster from SkiFree.

Microsoft

The pressure of trying to dodge trees and rocks as you head down the slopes was one thing, but knowing that a super fast Abominable Snow Monster would be coming down any second to eat the hell out of you brought the pressure to another level.

8. Trying to correctly guess "Who's that Pokémon?"

The Pokémon Company International

Once you saw the silhouette, you had a little bit of time to mull it over and make a guess. Unfortunately there were instances in which many of us got the answer incorrect, and that was nerve-racking on resounding levels that still wear on us today.

9. Having the Boos from Super Mario Bros. 3 come towards you whenever your back was towards them.

Nintendo

If you face them they'll leave you alone, but the instant you turn around they're headed straight for you with a terrifying face.

10. The fast Super Mario Bros. music that played when you were running out of time.

Nintendo

When the running out of time alert sounded, it was on! You knew you had no choice but to risk it all and move speedily, making yourself prone to mistakes and liable to be stressed the hell out.

11. Driving on Mario Kart's Rainbow Road.

Nintendo

At no point in real life has driving been as stress-inducing as it was on Rainbow Road. The civil engineers responsible for this colorful monstrosity caused kids way more stress than they should've been feeling before age 10.

12. How claustrophobic the thought of being in the chokey from Matilda made you feel.

TriStar Pictures

Tiny space + darkness + eerie steam + GIGANTIC SHARP NAILS POKING THROUGH = a concept scary enough to traumatize a child.

13. The intense panic felt during games of Heads Up, Seven Up.

Instagram / Via instagram.com

Whether you were sitting there with your head down, waiting in anticipation to feel your thumb touched, or you were the almighty chooser standing nervously, hoping whomever you selected didn't know it was you, it was stressful.

14. Brainy coming up behind Helga and loudly breathing on her.

Nickelodeon

The thought of this creepy young man's hot breath on the back of one's neck was, is, and will ever be extremely uncomfortable.

15. Downloading music illegally and worrying that your parents would get sued for it.

Napster

There were few dilemmas tougher than wanting to download "I'm Blue" by Eiffel 65, but also not wanting to get busted and ruin your family's lives.

16. Missing the channel you were looking for on the scrolling TV schedule.

CBS Corporation

If you were looking for channel 20 and you caught the scrolling guide right as channel 20 passed by, well, you'd better have a spare 16 hours or so to wait for it to come back around. This didn't just keep you on edge as a kid, it caused you anger, pain, and stress that lingers deep within your anxious soul to this very day.