embrace your insecurities

hey -

being short used to be a very huge insecurity of mine.

a lot of my other friends are taller than me and it always made me feel like i wasn’t nearly as respected as them in a way.

maybe it was me constantly being mistaken for a lot younger than i actually am. maybe that was my head sabotaging me. i don’t know.

but that’s neither here nor there.

after all, there’s nothing i can really do about my height. so instead of getting mad at my parents for giving me these stack of cards, i learned to accept it.

i can’t control my height, and therefore, i shouldn’t allow it to dictate how I see myself.

because why should we allow things out of our control affect our self-image?

i’ll give you another perspective.

i used to hate, and i mean hate smiling with my teeth because i was insecure of my smile. i had a gap in between my two front teeth and it was a feeling i was never really able to shake off (in the sense that i always felt ashamed/childish to have it).

it was only until i began my invisalign treatment when the insecurity faded away. my teeth straightened out and looked more ‘complete’. now i’m no longer afraid to show my teeth in any capacity.

i did something about my teeth alignment because it was a possible and affordable option.

my point is, we can’t shake off every insecurity regarding our genetics.

if we can do something about it, then let’s do something about it.

if not, that’s perfectly okay too. trust me. 

you’ve made it this far with your genetics, i bet you’re doing just fine with them. don’t be afraid to embrace it. it’s a beautiful thing.

as i take this high road, i don’t think insecurities should be framed as such.

i think they’re just what makes us stand out from the rest and that’s what we’re afraid of. we’re afraid to be different. and that’s what makes a bad thing in our eyes.

we can’t control the deck of cards we’re dealt with out of the womb.

but you bet your ass we can control what we do with it.

people are gonna recognize you for that small nose, big ass forehead and your voice.

but maybe that’s not so bad after all.

see you then.

• Ethan