Before we begin:  I wrote this about being too old for something, because that was my experience this morning, but I know a lot of you are younger than me so that might not really be your experience. But I think everything I'm saying here is true for any kind of "too whatever" or "not whatever enough" feelings you might be having:  Too young, too girly, not girly enough, too masculin, not masculine enough, not Asian enough, not smart enough, whatever.  I hope that whoever you are, whatever your condition is, that you can find something useful here.

As I start writing this, it's 4-1/2 hours to the release of Twice's M/V for "Merry & Happy".  I have every plan of watching this video immediately upon its release.  This morning as I was fixing myself a cup of coffee, I found myself thinking "Aren't you kind of old for being so excited about a pop music video?"  My immediate response was "No."  After a bit more thought, though, I revised that response:  "Hell no."

Stop and think about it with me for a second.  If I'm too old to get excited about a pop song, that means there's some point where I went from not being too old to being too old.  Who would get to say where the line is?  Why would there even need to be a line?  Basically, whenever somebody says "You're too {whatever} to be/like/do that thing," what it really comes down to is them saying "I don't think you should be/like/do that thing."  Well, that's just great, Carol, but what gave you the idea that your opinion counts for anything?  What gave you the idea that your opinion counts more than mine?

Not to be morbid here, but this is the only life we know we get.  We like to hope and think there's something on the other side, but we won't know for sure until we get there.  So we need to do everything we can to make this life a good one.  If something makes you happy and doesn't hurt anybody else, go for it.  Anyone who says you're too {whatever} to do the thing is just saying "My opinions about your life count more than yours," that's only true if you let it be true.

Before I end this, I want to point out that this is also true - perhaps even especially true - when the {whatever} is "not good enough" and person telling you not to do the thing is yourself.  If only the people who are the best at things should do them, then all those people with "26.2" stickers on the back of their cars should just stay home in their easy chairs and leave the running to the Olympic athletes.  But fortunately, that's not the way the world works.  So feel free to dance badly, write crappy fanfic, run slowly, whatever - live the best life you possibly can.

I hope this has made sense, and possibly even helped you.  Right now it's 5:00 in the morning my time and I'm writting this in snatched moments in between tasks at work.  But just because it's not the best blog post in the world doesn't mean I shouldn't write it.  ^_^