
What I Struggle With as a Petite (And So Do You)
And when I say struggle with, I don’t mean reaching things from the top shelves, or being called “cute” all the time – this is actually nice. I am talking about more serious aspects of a petite’s life.
STORY TIME
When I was 22 years old I accepted a job as a trainer for an oil and gas company in my hometown where most of the trainees (all of them actually) were 25+ years old (some of them were really my mother’s age). Well, nothing special so far. I was so excited by this job as it was my first one of this kind; until then I had been working from home as a content writer.
Before my first day as a “teacher”, my boss called me to encourage me and she told me everything was going to be perfect. At the end of the conversation although, she suggested for my first day of work to WEAR MORE MAKEUP. I was confused at first, but then I had finally realized what she meant – I was looking like a child and she knew that this was going to be a great challenge when working with adults.
Yup, that was the moment I’ve realized this is one of the biggest struggles of a petite – you are never taken seriously. And, guess what happened? Some of the trainees told me that I looked like a child and it was very difficult for them to have such a teacher. They needed someone more authoritative, which I’ve never been.
So, with all the makeup in the world, I couldn’t mask my youthfulness, I was still looking like a child in front of three groups of adult trainees. After a few weeks, a colleague took my place and this experience had a huge impact on my future development, but not immediately. It took me some good years to realize that not being taken seriously affected both my personal and work relationships. Being perceived as a child in the workplace can be difficult.
I Was Often Told I Was Incompetent
I don’t want to look like a victim, but I’ve been called incapable or incompetent for so many times by people I trusted the most, even when it was all about the smaller things, such as carrying groceries, not to mention more complex situations such as practicing an extreme sport or driving a car. Even my mother considered me unable to do such things, she always saw me as the little one. Unfortunately, this is how many people see petite women and short people in general.
But, remember, competency has nothing to do with height.
I have always been vertically challenged, of course, it was funny and in the same time hard at a certain point in life when I really didn’t know how to accept myself and love my body as it is. Even after I’ve realized how awesome is to be petite, I still find myself in awkward situations and I am sure you can relate to if you are petite in a non-petite world.
How many times have you struggled with the REAL problems of being petite?
This article reflects my own beliefs and experiences.


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