Has This 'Keen Interest' With Looking Younger Already Started?

My younger sister Rina and I were shopping together on the day this photo was taken. She was contemplating which kind of lotion to buy when she called me over to help her decide (since I'm a drugstore lotion enthusiast of some sort, being someone who cannot not moisturises her dry hands after they come into contact with water).

As we were discussing her needs and wants in a lotion (I told you I'm an enthusiast), I noticed the sale staff who was helping her studied the both of us before asking, "Are you two twins?"

Rina and I looked at each other before I burst out laughing — might I add, unnecessarily overjoyed at the fact that people think I look like I'm six years younger than my 30-year-old self — before telling her that I'm the elder sister, at which point she proceeded to ask do we have one or two years gaps between our ages? After Rina pointedly stressed that I am a whole 6 years older than she is, the sales lady went, "Oh. I thought she was younger", while pointing at me. 

(PS: Obviously some people have yet to grasp the concept of boundaries and limits.)

The thing is, that wasn't the first time it happened; plenty of people had mistaken Rina and I for twins or mistaken us for each other, which I mentioned in her Raya outfit post. Thankfully, Rina and I both find it all amusing, and she loves and adores me enough (she'll deny this if you ask her, though) to not find it in the least bit annoying. 

Well, at least, that's what she says to me, which I am grateful for.

What I want to bring up in my post today is, as you can tell from the title: can I really be at that age where I'm already pleased when people think I'm younger than my actual age? Or I guess the real question is: is it normal to feel that way already?

I remember thinking 30 is such a grown up age to be at when I was 20 years old, but now that I am 30, I certainly don't feel like I portray what my 20-year-old self saw in a 30-year-old back then. I mean, perhaps I'm the tiniest bit wiser. More practical. More logical. Feet firmer on the ground — more than when I was in my teens and early 20's, floating on clouds of fantasies and daydreams. I definitely am more proud of my 30-year-old self than the unsure person I was back then.

If I take pleasure in people thinking I'm younger, does that automatically mean I'm already worried about "looking older", at the mere age of 30? Should that even make sense? I mean, if I'm thinking logically and practically, like what any wise adult should do, I'd tell myself I'm being ridiculous; that it's just me letting myself to think that it is the expectation of others that is trying to convince myself to "always look youthful", when in reality others don't and shouldn't even care; that I should be embracing being 30 and whatever that comes with that age.

I have to admit though, unfortunately thinking logically and practically is not my absolute forte, e.g. why else would I need to own two white Stan Smiths, if I were so logical and practical, for example? And a different, much smaller part of my brain seems to inquire if I should perhaps start looking and acting "more like my age"? Something that I don't believe should necessarily be applied to everyone, because I believe in being happy just by being your whole self and looking like however you want you to look.

Remember back when we were in our early teens, when it gave us real pleasure when someone thought we were 17 instead of 14? Or when our parents' friends say "Your daughter looks mature for her age"? Or even when a person commented "You're only 13? You're really tall for your age!", and we would be all pleased, like we had a real hand in our height shooting up?

I don't know if statistics have been done to study this (they should), but I'm going to bet that a vast majority of girls and women will go / are going / have gone through these two stages in life: 1) Wanting to look older than their real age, and 2) Wanting to look younger than their real age.

Isn't that really interesting? I know I said "I'm going to bet that a vast majority of girls and women will go / are going / have gone through these two stages in life", but obviously I don't know for sure if it's true, but if it is, I also know that it isn't just a lucky guess. Because, well, it's a fact. It has to be.

I don't look younger than Rina, but I probably don't look older either (and I think we certainly don't look that similar at all, let alone like twins!). If we're talking about Rina and I and the wrong assumptions people make about us, it's really only because of the way I dress — which is usually loud, and a little unusual, perhaps — and the way I carry myself versus the way she carries herself; I'm an introvert but naturally bubbly and noisy in the company of the people I feel comfortable with, regardless of when I'm in public or not, whereas Rina has more composure (except in the way she laughs; our mom thinks her laughter will scare off her future in-laws).

What I really find intriguing is the personal way I feel whenever people make those wrong assumptions; being ONLY 30 years old, I can't decide if the feeling is natural, or if I need a major attitude adjustment, and perhaps also a change in my behaviour (remember when I mentioned about what the smaller part of my brain is telling me to do?).

But if I really think about it, every single of the "wise adults" I have known have flaws in their logical and practical thinking, too. Maybe not all worry about looking younger, and maybe they don't all have two almost identical pairs of white sneakers, but they have their own vices, for sure — like calling themselves fat when they're not, which I don't do, but so many women do — so I feel like at the end of the day, there is no perfection in growing up. Everybody grows up imperfectly, in their own way, with their own grown-up flaws, based on their own personal insecurities.

And mine just happen to be this. Oh well.

What do you think? Any positive thoughts would be much appreciated, really, but oh my God you guys THANK YOU for making it all the way to the end of this post. I hope your weekend will be great! XO