Last night, I sifted through my closet and threw on a random shirt to get myself warm. When I looked down, I noticed it was my old recreational basketball shirt from third grade that still fits. For a lot of men, especially 20-somethings, this could be demoralizing, yet I took this as a sign from God who didn't bless me with the gift of height but the gift of gab: write about height. With the average height of men in the U.S. being 5 ft. 10, I am considered "below average," yet I have found that there are many good - and bad - aspects of being a short man. Such as:

1. Wrestling and combat sports are tailor-made for you.

With individual weight classes, short people can be stars in wrestling, boxing, jiu-jitsu, and any combat sport. Much better than being cut from a football team for being "not big enough". Speaking of tailor-made...

2. You will constantly have to tailor new suits.

Let's face it, the clothing industry is not catered to every size and shape, and this is especially significant for height-challenged men. As such, we have to get our suits tailored just to make sure every seam fits like a glove, which gets expensive. On the other hand...

3. Less clothes to buy!

If your growth spurt in middle and high school was simply an inch, you still have a wide variety of clothes to choose from (as long as the designs are not kiddish). As a result, you save a ton of money to put towards fun things like Thirsty Thursday. And yet...

4. You are constantly carded at bars/ABC stores/restaurants.

Don't get me wrong, carding is a wonderful deterrent against underage drinking and creates responsibility in food establishments. Yet there's always a certain sting when you see the taller guys (and sometimes girls) in your crew pass by the carding process while the waiter asks you, "Are you 21, sir?" There is a solution though...

5. Beards become much more important.

Studies have shown that having facial hair increase other people's perception of your age, and beards are the perfect tool to combating the 21 question, and women love scruffiness. Although...

6. Some women will not consider you as "dateable".

Ask a majority of women to write down their preferences for men on dating sites or Tinder, and some may put down the dreaded "has to be taller than me" descriptor. It's understandable for a lot of reasons why they would put that, but you face the "left swipe" a lot more often. However...

7. The woman who does fall for you is worth it.

If you are lucky to find a woman who is the same height or even taller than you and doesn't care, that's a keeper right there, fellas! Be smooth and cook her a meal, except for one problem...

8. Shelves are your enemies.

The bane of any minuscule culinary crafter, or anyone who goes grocery shopping for that matter. When it comes to overall health though...

9. Muscles can be more defined.

A guy like me who stays active can appear to be much more toned than someone taller yet have the same body mass. Gotta love biology, right? Except when...

10. You have to stand in the front of group photos.

While some men may love the opportunity to be the center of attention (literally), others who are more stoic may not feel comfortable having their shortness on display. Which leads to the most important truth...

11. You learn to gain confidence and appreciate it.

With a whole world above your shoulders, you learn to appreciate the little things in life (no pun intended) and you become confident in your gifts and talents. You focus on those and strive for success to prove people wrong. Just look at Michael J. Fox, Kevin Hart, Bruno Mars, Spud Webb, the list goes on!

Feel that I missed something? Add to the list by commenting below.