Short Or Tall, Cute Or Ugly, You Are What You Think You Are, So Think Great

Hi folks,

During a recent ‘comment conversation’ with my interesting brother, Trevor, the issue of height was discussed and he called me ‘Lofty.’ I smiled about that, which in itself is revealing. As a  5′ 6″-tall teenager, I was called ‘Shorty’ and labeled as having ‘ducks disease,’ and was otherwise teased unmercifully about my vertical challenge, with severe damage to my self-esteem, but as John Cleese says in ‘The Holy Grail,’ “I got better.”

It took me another 30 years to realize that one’s self-esteem comes from inside not outside, and as soon as I had this epiphany, which occurred in a hotel lobby about 20 years ago, I felt much better, even content, about my height.

It went like this:

I was talking to two colleagues/friends, pathologists, Jack and Al, both tall (6′ 2″ plus). They were standing and I was seated, and we were chatting about (you guessed it) pathology, but then we moved onto our mutual interest in Art and other subjects. For some reason the issue of height came into the conversation, and I said (as a joke and I have no idea of the context of my statement), “… but how would you know, as I’m taller than you?” The look on their faces was priceless. They first nodded in agreement, then looked confused, and Al said, “Wait a minute, that’s not right, surely?” (still confused). They had to think about it, because my reputation as a researcher was solid (not short but tall!), and I was seated and the height discrepancy was not apparent. Then I finally realized that we create our public persona by how we think about, and thus present, ourselves.

If you think and feel that you are beautiful, or otherwise attractive, but NOT arrogant about it, you will attract people to you. It is just a fact. If, however, you consider yourself to be unattractive, the girls (or guys, if you prefer) will turn you down – that was true for me until I read two very important books on mating behavior.

This is why confidence and self-image play such an important role in the life of an athlete, young or old, male or female, short or tall.

Think about it!

-k @FitOldDog

PS things out there in the world are also, to you, what you perceive them to be, as I tried to explain in a previous post about possums, which I really like a lot. To me, they are truly beautiful creatures.