I don't believe in age. I don't believe that my value as a human being should be determined by how many breaths I've taken, how many times I've blinked, or the number of minutes I've spent on this earth. Life is about the moments, yes. But it's not measurable by the number OF them you've collected.
Because time? It's not a black and white thing. Life can change in a split second or it can remain essentially the same for years on end. People experience and live life at different paces. Some children grow up incredibly early and some adults never grow up at all.
It's about maturity and experience. It's about making mistakes and learning from them (or, in some cases, not). It's about personal growth and finding yourself and realizing your dreams. None of which are things you can do on a predetermined timeline. Not everyone experiences major loss at 13. Not everyone experiences heartbreak by 16. Not everyone experiences the same things in a lifetime.
And really? That is how you grow. The loss and the heartbreak and the moments that make you want to scream or cry or both are the moments that determine how 'old' you are, what you've gotten out of life. And it's the happy moments too. Meeting someone who brings you to your knees, triumphing over something or someone, new life, new perspective-it's all a part of life. A life that can't be measured in time.
Life is situational. Experience is often immeasurable. So don't let it inhibit you-date who you want to date, make sure your voice is heard, allow yourself to succeed...Don't use it as an excuse-take initiative...Just be. Live and let live. The moments matter, so cherish them, but the number of them? That number means nothing. Age is just a social construct that creates boundaries that oftentimes don't necessarily need to be there for a lack of a better unit of measurement. The only way to measure what you've gotten out of life is to simply live. So live simply: Do what makes you happy.