These are the exact words someone told me today. How often do these words come out of someone’s lips?

Enough times in my life to realize that height is very important for some people.

I decided to try a new gym today and could not get any type of Guest Trial Pass in the local LA Fitness close to my house. Did some searching and found out that while I can’t get a guest pass when I an physically at the facility, I can apply for the pass online, fill out my info, and then take some barcode to be scanned in. So I did that. Went to the gym, and showed it to the trainer/worker at the front desk/guest location, where they check people in. Apparently they don’t get enough people like me so they didn’t really know what to do so I was escorted to be sat down with another worker to put my personal info into the gym database. I mentioned that my name was already in, I didn’t want to take any gym tour, and just wanted to play around the gym to see if I wanted to switch from the YMCA, which had a higher monthly gym fee. The worker asked me what I wanted to do and I replied that I just wanted to play basketball.

So he mentions that he loves basketball and used to play a lot. Then he had to take the job at LA Fitness and couldn’t play much anymore. So I make the off-handed remark (which was also a joke) that all all he needed was to “be a little taller and have a little more skill to become a professional basketball player”. Then he says “I wish I was taller”.

A 2nd look at him tells me that he is already 5′ 11″, maybe even 6′ 0″. White, in his 20s, bearded, seems to be bored of his job, but goes through the motions and decently polite.

Apparently being even 5′ 11″ (or even 6′ 0″) is not enough anymore. He is still wishing he is taller. At what point does a normal guy stop wishing that he is taller? 

I think back in my life to the number of people who I have met who desperately wished that they could just grow taller.

The most extreme case was a Southeast Asian girl I dated for a short time. She would mention her short stature and tell me in confidence that becoming taller was her main wish in life. Not making more money, not getting married, not becoming successful. I would ask her whether she would choose ten million dollars or 9 inches in height. She choose to be taller. That relationship did not last.

Do these people, become bitter and resentful at some point at people who are taller than them after they reach a certain age and realize that there is almost nothing that they can do to change something about themselves which they don’t like?

Readers: I plan to do a short series of posts on topics related to medicine and biohacking in the next few weeks, sort of as a short guide on how to improve other areas of one’s body.