Tonight I had a heated conversation with a friend of mine, in which it got so heated, that the line "You can tell you're only twenty," was spoken. That line inspired this article to be written. Why do people judge me based on the number of years I've been on this Earth? What gives them the right to judge before walking in my shoes?

I have been through many experiences that have caused me to mature and grow up more quickly. My parents divorced while I was transitioning into a lady and I had to grow up and become one a lot faster than I had to be. I have experienced heartbreaks and have lost friends due to immature reasons and guess who had to grow up a little and be the bigger person? You guessed it. Me.

What gives other people the privilege and the audacity to judge me as a person just because I've only taken 20 laps around the sun thus far? What if I have experienced more pain and experiences that made me stronger in 20 years than you have in your 50 years on this Earth, or even 75?

Experiences are what makes us mature. We don't just wake up and decide "Hey, I might act older than I am today." I did not choose to grow up the way I did. I did not want the hardships that I had to endure. Some days, I wish I found things that people enjoy my age fun, but I don't.

It is unfair of you to judge my basis of being a person on simply my age. What happened to judge someone based on how they treat others? Or how they articulate themselves when it comes to communicating with others? Just because I am 20 years old does not allow you the freedom to place me in your made-up category.

I hope anyone out there who feels discouraged by people like this does not let it keep them down. You are not who they say you are and they don't know the experiences you've endured to be mature for your age. You are made up of experiences, emotions, beliefs, and ideas that are unique to you and only you. Not you and every something-year-old in the same category.

I might not be as old as you, or as settled as you are in life, but don't discredit my life experiences and what I have learned from them by putting me in a box labeled "the rest of the twenty-year-olds." How unfair of me would it be to place you in a category that you had no business belonging to? But by God, you are 27 so in you go!

Keep in mind that every individual is unique. Each individual shares unique experiences that make them who they truly are. Age is just a demographic. A combination of digits that tells us how many years we've been here. During those years, you don't know what I've been through. So don't pretend that you do and categorize me. Age ain't nothing but a number, baby.