Big hugs for what you’ve gone through.

I think it’s absolutely fine for you to be friends with 18-26 year olds. I’m F20 and I started university when I was 17 and had friends who were 30+ and it was never weird and was genuine. On the other hand.. I did have a fear of people closer to my age because of really bad bullying..

Even now in classes there are people all in different stages of life, some with children, some married, some much younger, and I don’t find it weird. We all have different life experiences that we are able to share with each other and as long as they actually understand, are accepting, and respect you for who you are, I think it’s fine.

Don’t worry about what others think because at the end of the day it’s your life, and what matters is if you’re happy.

Also, I think with time you will start to make friends your own age, and I also feel you with feeling like losing my childhood and teen years. I couldn’t speak and missed out on a lot of learning at that age... how to interact with my peers, how to talk to people, etc.. but now I’m slowly regaining that.

I genuinely couldn’t even carry a conversation properly until I turned 20!!! It’s never too late!

You’ve already made it this far, so trust me, you are strong enough to do anything!