When I was in my late twenties and someone said I looked like a teenager, I was shocked, not flattered.

In my thirties and forties, I bought into ageism enough to feel flattered when people said I looked ten years younger.
Also in my forties, a narcissistic sociopath who was seven years younger than I kept flaunting her ageism and taking it out on me. I was almost forty-six when I dumped her and moved to another city.

In my late 40s, someone in her seventies claimed I looked like a teenager. (We were in a dimly-lit restaurant--that's the only explanation I have. That and she was white and in her seventies.) I felt shocked, offended, and diminished. It was like she flushed away all my wisdom, insight, and life experience.

Now that I'm in my fifties, I'm glad I've gone No Contact with countless narcissists and a handful of sociopaths--and this includes relatives I've known since I was an infant.

Nowadays I thoroughly embrace my wisdom and insight. I didn't even understand boundaries until shortly after I dumped the narcissistic sociopath and a therapist taught me about boundaries. Sure, it would be nice to permanently have the knees of a twenty-year-old, but I look back on my social ineptitude, extreme people-pleasing, and continual walking on eggshells that I did in the past... and I'm profoundly glad I'm not that person anymore.

Ageism strikes me as shallow and immature.