The Age Debate: How Important is Age in Determining Relationship Compatibility?

Age they say is just a number, and indeed it's really just a number, because what really matters is what you've got upstairs in terms of your emotions, intelligence, capability, maturity, and the like, but then when it comes to relationships and marriages, it's not mostly seen in the same light by many as they consider age before delving into a relationship with their partner. While some, like men, would say they can't date a lady older than them, others, like women, might decide they can only date someone in their age grade or others someone that's at least 5 years older than them, but does that really matter, and what's my take on this personally? Find out about that in the continuation of this article below.

To start with, you see many people have this belief that age determines maturity, and why I believe they've such belief is that most of such people believe that the numbers of your age determine how many experiences you've had, and that'll also determine how you relate and react to things, but that's not always the case in my opinion, and why I said so is because you can be 10 years younger than someone and yet have had more experience than the older person, and such experiences usually brood us.

Also, being old or of age doesn't mean you've got the ability to handle your emotions effectively in a relationship; someone can be young and still manage their emotions, temperament, and the likes well enough than someone who is two times their age. So in light of that, what I'm trying to say is that indeed, age is just a number, but then coming into a relationship, can I date anyone regarding the age difference, be it older than I'm or younger?

My answer to that is no, and I'll tell you why. The first reason why I said no is because even though I agree that age is just a number, I don't buy the idea of being in a relationship with someone older than I'm. Most men have the same ideology, but I can tell you for a fact that our reasons for that vary. While most men don't want to date someone older than them, it's because men love to be respected, and they believe someone older than them will find it hard to respect or submit to them.

On the other hand, my reason is that I've got this fantasy of dying before my wife and getting married to someone who's older than me can handle such from being a reality. Of course, I know death can come anytime regardless of age, but I'd rather be on a safer side than be left alone in the world by my partner. On the other hand, dating someone who's way older than I'm would most likely have a huge gap of ideology and belief because we're generation apart, but someone within my age grade can still easily relate to things that I can relate to because we're of the same generation.

However, I don't see a big deal in dating someone I'm older than from a year different to as far as ten years old, but sometimes being too older just won't work for me; in fact, the ten-year gap is too much. I should probably say at most a 5-year gap between my partner and I would be the idea gap I can stand, and that's me being older by that difference, not the other way around at all.

But generally I prefer to date someone with whom we're of the same age, probably just a month or a year or two different; that's usually much better, and relating with one another is much better and more comfortable, not when you're dating someone with a huge age gap and you can't even address your partner by name out of respect for their age or you're always afraid to speak up because you feel if you talk, they'll think it's because you're too older or younger than they're, and then it seems like we're being ridiculed or being in a cage while in such a relationship.

All photos taken and edited on canva.