It (being short) became a matter of perspective for me and well a shortgirls perspective is different, literally.
Different doesn’t equal bad. There are a lot of challenges to being a shortgirl. Not being able to reach things on the middle shelf, notice I didn’t say top shelf because that’s not even a possibility. When you’re standing in line at the deli they call your number and you’re standing there waving your tiny little number in the air and they look right over you, annoying right. Trying to get up and down from a bar stool without it being a major production. I could go on and on, but you get what I mean.
Shortgirls come in all shapes and sizes and we face challenges that those of “normal” height could not even imagine. Dealing with being a shortgirl is all a matter of perspective. How we see the world is different, literally and figuratively. It’s how we deal with these challenges that make us who we are. It’s an attitude. An attitude that says I know I’m 4 foot friggin’ 9 and I don’t care what anyone else thinks.
An observation that I’ve made over the years is about how short girls walk. When I think back to my childhood, I remember my mother (also a shortgirl) telling me I sounded like a heard of elephants on the stairs. I never gave it much thought back then and figured she was being mom. As I got older I started to notice the way I walked (usually 2 steps to everybody else’s one). I was not quiet when I walked, I’m still a “loud walker” I do have a tendency to wear heels, go figure. I can’t pinpoint the exact moment that I realized the loud walking thing, but I do remember being in an empty hallway, I think in a school where I was speaking at a career day event and I noticed the sound of my feet hitting the floor very loudly, now maybe it was exaggerated because it was an empty hallway and echoing. I tried to walk more quietly. It was awkward, I was on my toes trying to not let my heels hit the floor, I couldn’t really do it, it didn’t feel right, It wasn’t me. I walk loud and proud, with purpose! People tell me I look like I’m always on a mission, yeah maybe. I’ve also observed that I’m not the only one who is a loud walker. Where I currently work there are several of us short girls, and guess what? We all walk as I like to call it “with purpose”! I play a little guessing game when I hear a purposeful walk in the hallway, I wonder who that is, Katie, Sarah…?
Shortgirls stand tall and walk with purpose. Make people guess who it is coming down the hall and forge full speed ahead and everyone else will get out of your way. Short but mighty, shortgirls rule!