I am 23, not 17

Personally, I do not think I have a babyface, but I am often mistaken to be younger than my actual age. Sometimes, much younger.

Just a few weeks ago, somebody thought I was just 17.

I think it has to do with me being what most people kindly and nicely termed as “vertically-challenged”, in other words, SHORT.

Being short generally makes me appear younger, regardless of the way I look (my face).

Don’t get it?

It is the same case for instance, we see a teenager who looks like she is a secondary school student, and then we look at her height coupled with her looks, we would probably exclaim, “So short, she must be in primary school, if not, at most secondary one.”

People tell me I should be happy that I look younger than my age. When I groan in response, they retort, “Do you want to look older then?”

No, of course not, nobody wants to look older, especially girls.

But, I guess when you are in your twenties and people still think you are a teen, perhaps it is not just the height problem (this is another interesting topic, but I will leave it for some other day), but also the way you dress and carry yourself. It does not help that teenage girls these days just cannot seem to wait to grow up and they dress as though they are adults. That somehow blurs the distinction further.

(It is funny, isn’t it? When we are young, we want to look like an adult and we try to dress like one. As we get older, we try means and ways to dress and look younger.)

I do not really mind being mistaken as being younger; sometimes I even glee in delight.

Looking younger is fine but definitely not kiddish. If you look like a kid, most people do not take you or what you do and say seriously. Worse of all, people question your maturity and doubt your capabilities. Not to mention appearing like an easy prey for people to push their weight around just because they think you are only a kid.

The biggest joke I can recall of being mistaken to be younger than my actual age, was when I was 19. One day, I was in school uniform and I was with my father when we met his friend. After he finished chatting with my father, he turned to me and asked me, “So, have you finished your PSLE?”

I almost died of embarrassment.

I guess people who have never been mistaken as being younger will never be able to understand the woes of it.

Not that there are no happy moments though.

For one, I seem to click better with young children and I love that! Perhaps the kids think I am more-or-less-about-the-same-as-them, and so they are more willing to regard me as a playmate.

Now at 23, I may prefer people to think that I am 23 and not younger. But, when I grow older, perhaps at 30, I will be hoping that people still think I am 23!

I have heard people saying that if you look younger than you actually are when you are young, it is likely that the process of aging will speed up as you grow older, and you will look older than you really are later on.

Sounds scary isn’t it? I sure hope this is just hearsay!