I Wasn't Born Yesterday

Has anyone tried to ask you if they look young for their age? What is a twenty-five year old supposed to look like anyway? I don't know if I could answer that question myself and try to avoid answering those questions as much as possible. Over the past two summers, I have gone home to work at the Princess Cruises headquarters. When I am working there, everyone comments how young all of the interns look. The age range for the interns in my department this summer was 19-22 and so whenever we were walking around people assumed we were interns and would ask us what department we were working for and where we went to school. Although someone could probably not guess my exact age, they knew that I was young. There was one incident over the summer where one of my coworkers was mistaken for an employees child on take your kid to work day but we all laughed it off. The year before there was a 25 year old in our intern group and because I was nineteen he would constantly say what a baby I was to me and the other nineteen year old in our group. However, we were getting the same job experience and so maybe age is such a determinant for maturity as some people perceive. However, it can often feel that people immediately discredit your experience because you are young or because you look young.
This past summer I was mistaken as a freshman in high school and as a recently graduated high schooler.  My brother that is younger than me has been mistaken as my twin or older brother. In high school, a girl was in disbelief that I was senior because she thought I was younger and my freshman year someone thought I was in middle school still. It can be a little embarrassing because then people assume that you are younger constantly and although people say that you will appreciate it when you are older, that is not always the biggest comfort. These constant reminders that I don't look old enough can start to weigh me down and make me feel as though I am not only younger in appearance but also maturity and experience. I have to remind myself that in some ways I am doing the same things that many people older than me are doing and that just because someone is younger, that doesn't mean that they are less smart or don't have the same amount of expertise. This is not supposed to be a woe is me post but I hope it gives some insight on how feeling too young by others constantly can start to be grating. Maybe next time you see someone and are not how sure how old they are, ask them. This may seem silly but hey it never hurts to ask!