Cosmic Bus
pristine morning snow
I know it is something I can't change, but I can't really help feeling miserable over it. The problem is I have thought so much about it, everyday, at every hour, that it now has gone much beyond just that. I feel inferior, less than everyone else based solely on my height, even if they don't make fun of it or tease me with it (in that aspect I've been lucky enough not to ever been badly teased about my height), it is like nobody really mentions or seems to care about my height, but still I make a huge deal out of it, and I can't help it. Besides, it is some kind of "secret suffering", because I don't really talk about it. Nobody know it affects me the way it does.
I'm the same height as you (5'4") and have felt pretty similarly all my life. It isn't so much that teasing or serious discrimination have been a significant issue, but that I can't accept this miniature stature on a personal level. I hate it and being so short (along with plenty of other physical features about myself that I wish were different) seems like a curse.
Because I literally look like a child with an older face (I'm 34), people don't respect me or take me seriously. I often have to shop in the kids section for clothes. I don't/can't look mature or masculine, so as a gay man, I'm basically ignored by everyone... unless they want a friend, because as Bagels said, we tend to develop a sense of humor about it as a defense mechanism *cough*self-depreciation*cough*bitterness*cough* and we end up being seen as the fun, jovial, dependable guy since all we need is to be wanted, cared about, and not disposed of when someone more appealing comes along.
I dunno... I don't really have any advice to offer, just that I share your pain and frustration about this thing we can never change.