I can speak as someone who was smaller in height and/or build than many others at school.
I could hold my own with cheerful demeanour and humour, but some saw the thoughtful, 'wanting to be good' side of my nature as a weakness, and used it as an excuse to marginalise, if not exactly to bully me, and to exclude me from activities.
I wish now that I'd stepped forward and simply whopped them in anger, instead of stepping back, remaining silent, and letting negative thoughts about myself get into my head. It took nearly half a century to finally eliminate them.
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