You're 22, you're 34, you're 41 and the numbers go up and up. What does that mean, what doesn't it mean, what is it suppose to mean? You've heard that age is only a number, but you've also heard, act your age.

A large number of men and women are attracted to "age different" partners these days and those questions come up repeatedly. Say you are an older woman and you find yourself dating or attracted to younger men. Perhaps you are the younger man that is fed up with the games of women in your age group and seek a more mature partner. Or, maybe you are attracted to men that are a lot older than you or conversely women that are young enough to be your daughter. In either case this can cause alarm among family and friends who pressure you to join the more traditional roles in relationships. Or perhaps it is the stigma that you personally have attached to "age different" dating.

Take heart, there are increasing numbers of people engaging in age different dating and there are steps to take to see if it fits for you. In looking at this issue, the first thing to look at is what age the person you are attracted to is operating at. The chronological age really means very little and is only a way of counting our years here on earth. Someone can be 20 and operate with a lot of knowledge and insight and appear to be much older than his years. The same is true the other way around, a person can be 70 and have a lot of energy and enthusiasm for life. You perhaps have known someone who was 25 and acted like 60.

No matter what our age, we are all going through a certain phase in life so that while a man may be going through a mid-life crisis at 40 a woman can be going through an identity crisis at 28. It is sometimes easier to deal with a partner's phase that is different than our own because it doesn't push our own buttons. We have a different perspective on it and can share that with our partner and they with us.

When you each come from a different generation, it's true you can't exchange stories on where you were when Kennedy was shot, but you can each bring something new into the relationship. The different experiences that each partner brings actually enrich and expand the relationship. If the need is there to relate to someone of your own age, then have friends to share those times and stories with. One person is never going to give you everything that you need in any case and friends fill those areas nicely.