First Person Singular
Rising above height insecurities

LINDSAY EMMITE illustration/Riverside High School

By Whitney Ashcraft
Herbert Hoover High School

So many of us spend our lives dreaming of being someone different. We look at ourselves in the mirror and see only what we can change. Why can’t we just like what we have? I guess it’s just like the saying goes, “The grass is always greener on the other side.”

I am one of those people. When I used to look in the mirror, there was one thing I always saw that I wanted to change: my height.

From early in my life, I have been very tall. In grade school, I was always the tallest person in my class — even taller than all the boys.

Because of this, I was very shy and self-conscious. I didn’t want to stand out in a crowd; I wanted to blend in. But I never could because my head was always visible above those of all my vertically-challenged classmates.

During my grade school years, some people used to call me names like giantess, Sasquatch and my (now) personal favorite: Jolly Green Giant. It hurt my feelings, but eventually, I gave in and started making fun of my height along with them. After that, I started making more friends than I already had because I became the type of person who could laugh at myself, and people enjoyed that quality in me.

In middle school, some of my male classmates started to catch up to me height-wise, and I started feeling less self-conscious. I finally began to stand up straight and be proud of my height.

But just as soon as I thought I was done growing, my height shot up to 5’10’’ and stayed that way for some time. Then, during my junior year, I added another inch and a half to my already towering height. (That’s 5’11.5” for those of you too lazy to do the math.)

Once again I was self-conscious — especially when it came to guys. I always felt like I towered over them, and that was really uncomfortable for me.

I used to sometimes wish that I could just shrink down to the perfect size. I always used to say that if I could be 5’ 7,” I would be normal. At that time, I certainly didn’t feel normal - I felt like a freak in my own body.

I have changed my thinking since then, though. One day, I finally said to myself that my height was something that I couldn’t change and that I should just work with what I have.

Besides, being tall does have its perks: I can reach things on high shelves, I can never be beat at monkey in the middle and, well, let’s just say that guys who play basketball are really tall and attractive.

Looking back, I can now laugh at some of those names I was called, and I realize that even though being different did tend to bring me a lot of ridicule, it also helped me grow more as a person — not only in terms of height but also in terms of character and personality.

So, I guess being tall isn’t so awful after all. If I can learn to embrace what I once hated, maybe other people can too. Perhaps instead of looking into that mirror and wanting what they can’t have, people should work with what they’ve already been given.