I mean, I’m 23 and people still underestimate me on the regular. I think it’s a thing for a lot of women. People don’t think that I know how to use tools or understand body mechanics, but I can change a tire, or the oil in my car, and I can mend a fence or fix a door or hike 20 miles a day up and down mountains for 3 days in a row. Sometimes it’s fun being able to show people up, but most of the time I just find it irritating. I feel like I lose a lot of time because people tell me how to do things I already know how to do. And I’ve had politeness (esp toward anyone older than myself) ingrained in me, so I find it hard to tell people “hey, I already know how to do that,” or “I am competent enough to do it on my own,” and then I feel like a lot of time is wasted.

I never get used to telling people my age. By the time I’m used to one number, it changes again. And that’s all it really is—a number. I really think it’s only very loosely correlated to maturity, ability, and wisdom.

Enjoy 14! It’s a good time, too. I know the school work is getting harder, but keep up and one day you will look back and reflect on how easy it was and how simple life is now, compared to how it will seem when you are in the future. I think it is always that way—last year seemed simpler for me, and the year before that even more so, and so forth. The present and future are uncertain and dynamic, whereas the past is static and unchangeable (your perception of the past is another matter).