You can definitely strengthen your application through doing a heartfelt project.
The age is so negligible as to be unimportant. It’s one year!
What you lose in time (if this is how you think of it) is more than made up for in the quality you will bring to your future studies because of this year.
Instead of “lost time” if that’s how you think of it, and I’m guessing so forgive me if I’m wrong, try to think of the time as an investment, like fertilizing your lovely blooming mind.
Taking time off before college is so prevalent that many schools have special entries for “non-traditional” students. There are non-trad programs, such as Columbia GS and UPenn also has a separate college devoted to nontrads. Yale and Brown have non-trad programs for ages (like) 26 approx. But other schools welcome older students as they add to the school’s atmosphere, by bringing more worldly experience, the gravitas of age, and wider perspective. Schools such as Reed, MIT, and Sarah Lawrence are known for welcoming students who are older and have varying experiences, as do several others. Women’s colleges hold special places for older students too: Smith. Mt. H, Agnes Scott, Bryn Mawr have special scholarships. In other words the nontrad path is nuanced, rich in its own right, and there are many new paths available.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_programs_and_colleges_for_non-traditional_students