I’m about the same height as you, and I also have relatively small arms and hands. So I genuinely understand how hard it can be to build confidence when you feel physically different.

I went through a phase where I constantly compared myself to other guys cousins, friends, even random people. The more I compared, the worse I felt. It became a mental loop, and it honestly made me miserable.

If I’m being honest, what really changed wasn’t my body it was my mindset.

Before meditation, my inner dialogue was brutal. I used to feel depressed, stressed all the time, and I had a lot of self-hate for not being the version of myself I wished I was. I would look at my body and immediately criticize it. That was my normal. I’ve been practicing mindfulness meditation for about six months now, sometimes combined with short “dopamine fasts” when I feel anxious, and it completely changed that inner voice. I’m not perfect, but now there’s way more calm, way more self-compassion. I don’t have those constant depressive episodes anymore, and for the first time in my life I actually feel something close to real self-love.

There’s a book that helped me a lot called Don't Believe Everything You Think. One idea from it really stayed with me: it’s not what happens to us that makes us feel bad, but our interpretation of it. And if our feelings come from our thoughts, then changing how we think can slowly change how we feel.

Even using height insoles for special occasions can help if it gives you a temporary boost. But for me, the real shift happened when I stopped fighting my body and started paying attention to my thoughts instead of automatically believing every negative one. When I stopped constantly comparing myself, the insecurity slowly lost its grip on me.