As a young adult, the most common line that we hear from adults is, “You’re too young”. While I'm a fan of not starting to date too young, as a twenty-one-year-old, I'm still told, “You’re just too young.”

I’m told that I have my whole life in front of me, but I don’t see it that way. It all depends on your perspective on life. I believe that life is far too short to make it so complicated. If you want to do something to make yourself happy, then I say go for it. You never know if you’ll ever get that chance again.

I don’t think that marriage ruins your entire life. If anything, it enhances life if you’ve found the right person. I’m currently engaged to my beautiful fiancé, and she’s my best friend in the entire world. The common thought about our relationship is that we're too young to be engaged. We shouldn’t even get married until we graduate college. We’re told, “This is the time in to be alive and to date many people. It's the time to just go out and have fun.” But I’m having fun with her. Why does the fact that we want to be responsible and commit to one another upset so many people? It doesn’t make sense to me. Isn’t it my life? Aren't these mydecisions?

The first misconception is that we're not responsible enough to make this decision. Yet a little over three years ago, I was responsible enough to choose a major that would shape my future career. Somehow, I was responsible enough to pay taxes and do things without parental consent. I’m now able to rent a car, buy a house, and drink legally (all of these could have large impacts on my life), but it's my responsibility to act mature and make the right decisions. When it comes down to my love life, for some reason, that responsibility isn’t mine. It’s non-existent.

Maybe it's the way our society is developing. The number of young people getting married is starting to decline, and it's no longer the norm. This is called the "marriage dearth". This means that the amount of people getting married has actually been declining for decades. Maybe it's this sociological trend that makes us look at the younger generation as inadequate for getting married at a younger age. The fact is that if someone is making a life decision, they've most likely given it some thought and are confident in their decision.

The comment, “You're too young” just comes across as insulting.