Age is a weird thing isn't it? Every year your age goes up, this number that's supposed to define where you are in life. When you're 15 you're in school, in the middle of all the teenage drama. When you're 25 you're out in the adult world, probably at the start of your career.
When I was younger I used to always want to be older. I remember being 16 and counting down the days until I turned 18 and now I'd kind of like if time could slow down just a little. The idea for this blog post was brought on by my 22nd birthday a few weeks ago. For some reason 22 sounds really old to me, and I was stressing out because I have all of these things I want to accomplish by 25 until I realised I was being completely ridiculous.
Our age shouldn't set any limitations on what we can and can't do and there shouldn't be certain goals we have to hit by the time we reach 25, 30, or 50. All the time I hear women who are older than me saying they can't do this, or wear that because they're "too old" and I say there's no such bloody thing. Your age is simply just a number and you shouldn't let it define you. A brilliant example of this would be my Mum, who has definitely inspired the way I think about age. She's got just as much "get up and go" as I do and when we went surfing recently she wasn't the one who gave up after 45 minutes, I was!
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On the flip side, when I turned 22 I had so many people telling me that I'm "so young" and that I've "done so much for someone who's only 22" which of course is a lovely thing to hear, but just because I'm 22 doesn't mean I can't work as hard as a 30 year old and achieve whatever I set my mind to.
I came across a brilliant quote the other day that perfectly describes how I feel about age, so I thought I'd share it with you:
"I hope you aren't held back because of a number and that you don't rush into things because it feels like time is slipping by. I hope you do what's right for you. Hold on, slow down and breathe in. Your age is your age but more importantly your life is your life. Don't change your journey so that it matches someone else's. We need to walk different paths so the whole world can be explored. Revel in the differences and enjoy where you are in this moment."
If you don't want kids by 25 and to be married by 30 like your cousin Sarah, don't stress it, you don't have to! Like I mentioned above, I had this list of things I wanted to have done by the time I'm 25, like starting my career, moving to a city etc but I've realised now that if I get to 25 and I'm back in college studying a completely different degree, that's fine. That's just how my life is supposed to go.
If there's one thing I've learnt, it's that the Abraham Lincoln quote "it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years" isn't as cheesy as it sounds. I may only be 22 but I've had more than a few hard life lessons thrown at me and I guess that's probably why I find myself having to put on a fake smile when people say I'm "so young" and why I'm such a cynical old git at times!
This quote also rings true when you look at really successful young people. I always think it's so funny to see headlines like "You'll Never Believe How Young This Tech Millionaire Is", as if a 21 year old almost shouldn't be able to be successful purely because he's "only" 21. A brilliant example of this is Nick D'Aloisio who sold his app Summly to Yahoo for a reported 30 million dollars back in 2013 when he was 17. If you google him, all of the articles will refer to him as a 'schoolboy', which of course he was, but how is that relevant? Surely he's a 'computer genius' above anything else, no?
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T-shirt - River Island (currently on sale) / Checked Trousers - Penneys (similar here) / Jacket - Mango (similar here) / Bag - Penneys / Watch - Daniel Wellington / Sunglasses - RayBan / Stan Smiths - ASOS
I guess the main point I'm trying to get at with all this rambling is that you can do whatever the hell you want, and the age you are can't control that. Your life is your life, it's up to you, not your age to decide what you do with it.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on age and if you feel the same way about it as I do, or if you disagree completely, I'd love to hear that too! Feel free to leave a comment here, on Facebook or on Instagram and we can have a chat.
Thanks so much for reading!
