It has come to my attention that today, Dec. 22, is Short Girl Appreciation Day. The hashtag #ShortGirlAppreciationDay is subsequently ricocheting around social media, and as a short girl myself, it is something I can definitely get behind. Being short has a ton of advantages, and they’re all worth celebrating.
At just a hair over five feet tall, I am very much a short person. I have always been short; I was tiny even as a child, and since pretty much everyone else in my family is also short, it was unlikely that I would magically grow up into a six-foot-tall woman who is mostly made of legs. But while my short stature does have its disadvantages — getting stuff down from the higher shelves in my kitchen requires the extra step of dragging over a chair to stand on, for example; additionally, I dislike the fact that short women in particular are so frequently reduced down to the word “cute” (not that there is anything wrong with "cute," but when it's constantly thrust upon you by other people, it's kind of infantilizing) — it’s actually never bothered me that much. In fact, I would argue that there are rather a lot of unexpected perks to being short. As a joke, I used to term myself as “vertically challenged,” but you know what? For me, it’s not a challenge. It’s a bonus.
Here are a few of my favorite things about being short. Happy Short Girl Appreciation Day, everyone!
1. You’re the Last One to Get Wet When It Rains
Sharing an umbrella with my six-foot-tall partner is never a problem: He holds it, and I stay dry underneath it. Everybody wins.
2. You’re Awesome at Hide and Seek
Because you can fit into the most compact of hiding spaces and no one will ever know. (Why yes, I still sometimes play hide and seek as a grownass adult; why do you ask?)
3. You Can Still Enjoy Piggyback Rides
And yes, I also still enjoy the occasional piggyback ride, largely due to the fact that I am portable. What’s the point of being a grownup if you can’t be a kid every now and again?
4. You Live Longer
It’s true. As Bustle’s Gabrielle Moss commented earlier this year, short people develop cancer at lower rates than tall people, we avoid chronic diseases, and we generally live longer lives. It’s thought that these health benefits are due to our smaller bodies being able to function a little more efficiently than their taller counterparts.
5. Airplane and Movie Theater Seats Aren’t Quite So Painful
Lack of knee space is never an issue when your legs are on the shorter side of things. I’ve been noticing in recent years, though, that legroom in airline seats are getting a little tight even for me, which has given me great sympathy for the tall people of the world who also have to cram themselves into them. You know it’s bad when even the shorties think there’s not enough legroom.
6. And Headroom Isn’t an Issue, Either
No, not of the Max variety. But you don’t have to worry about whacking your head on the doorframe because it’s so dang far away from your noggin. It's kind of nice.
7. You Still Get Carded
I’m actually not at a point where I consider this a perk yet; as a person in my 30s, it’s kind of demeaning when people treat me like I’m 15 because they’ve interpreted my short stature as a lack of years. But, the older short women I know tell me that you start to appreciate it as the decades wear on, soooo… there’s that.
8. Your Forced Perspective Tourist Pictures Are Dynamite
Think it’s impressive when a 6’2” person looks like they’re propping up the Leaning Tower of Pisa? It’s even more impressive when the person in question is only five feet tall. Boom.
9. It’s Not As Far to the Ground If You Trip
I am an accident-prone person, so the fact that there is a significantly shorter distance to go when I trip up and hit the deck is a boon. It would be a lot more painful if I were taller.
10. You Can Save a Bundle Shopping…
…Because odds are you’re still short enough to bargain hunt in the kid’s section. Want a pair of Hunter boots? The kids’ sizes will fit up to a women’s size seven, and they’re a whopping $70 cheaper.
11. It’s Easy-ish to Weave Through Crowds
I wouldn’t say it’s ever a breeze to plow through scads and scads of people, but it’s much easier to slip into the tiny spaces between others unobtrusively as you hurry your way through areas like, say, Times Square, where there are always approximately eighty bajillion people just standing there in the middle of the sidewalk and not moving.
12. You Get a Ton of Cardio Walking Around With Your Taller Friends
I am a speedy walker, mostly because it takes about two steps for me to match one stride of those of my taller friends. This means that I get an unexpected amount of exercise just by speed-walking around everywhere, and exercise that does not seem like exercise is my favorite kind of exercise.
13. You’re In Good Company
I’m not just talking about awesome celebrities and public figures like Kristen Bell. All us shorties? We’re all in good company with each other. Heck. And yes.
Images: Giphy (7)
