A 17-year age gap is new to you.

Which has led you to questioning whether it is too big of an age gap.

The truth is that you are worried about what this would feel and look like to you and to the world at large.

Dating a guy who is 35 as an 18-year-old woman is bound to raise a ton of eyebrows.

Family, friends, co-workers, and strangers in public are sure to notice the big age gap.

This won’t ever go away.

Family, friends, and co-workers will always have something judgmental to say about it.

Strangers in public who see you with this 35-year-old guy are bound to give you disgusted looks.

Should you choose to date a 35-year-old man as an 18-year-old woman, you won’t ever escape the negative judgment of those close to you and those you don’t know.

So, if this is something you don’t believe you can handle, dating a guy with this big of an age gap will be a monumental challenge.

Everything you do as a couple will most likely be under constant scrutiny, and no matter how much you want to appear as though you are a regular couple, the judgment never goes away.

If you are considering dating a 35-year-old man, you are better off taking account of how much value dating a man like this would bring into your life.

Does he have outstanding qualities that the men your age usually don’t have?

Have you struggled for years to find men your age who have these outstanding qualities?

Have the committed relationships you have had with men your age often resulted in painful breakups instigated by you, as a result of how much these men were lacking in these qualities?

You probably thought that they would grow into having those qualities.

But it never happened.

The men your age stayed the same, and the qualities stayed missing.

A 35-year-old man who possesses these outstanding qualities is already at the finish line.

You don’t have to date him with the undetermined hope he eventually achieves these qualities.

The 35-year-old man already has these outstanding qualities.

He is set in his professional career, with financial resources, a wide network of influential friends, and a lifetime of adventurous experiences.

These are all qualities that make you gravitate to him as a potential dating prospect.

Yet, the big age gap is what gives you pause in relation to dating him.

You have to ask yourself whether dating this 35-year-old man would be of more value to you than not dating him.

If his outstanding qualities far outweigh the judgment that comes from friends, family, co-workers, and strangers at large due to the age gap, you are better off dating him.

After all, you are the one who would be in the relationship, not them.

What makes you happy is what matters most.

If you were to only date men based on whether people approve or disapprove of who you date, you are going to leave a long trail of unsatisfactory relationships and breakups.