My height got destroyed by my environment and diet growing up
I am 19 years old and was 5'8 last year (172-175cm, perhaps due to my posture+morning height I easily fluctuate an inch). Yes I'm not exactly "short" especially since I'm from India and from one of the taller parts in the country(South Delhi), I'm bang on average for my age here but since it's a very diverse city I often feel short and tall simultaneously lol, that's not what I have any complaints about.
Now the caveat is that I'm 48KG and pretty much had my height and health potential nuked. I straight up caught immune system diseases and allergies from when I was like 1 years old. I also grew up on a typical Indian diet without much protein and as you guessed by my weight, I've probably been calorie maintenance mode if not deficient most of my life (started fixing it this year).
My father is 5'8 and mother is 5'3 so I'm basically the same height as my father.
Now the reason I'm whining about being short or rather the moment I got conscious about my height? Well I have male first cousins. But it's not just because they're my cousins, it's because I most certainly had similar if not greater height potential than most of them yet the environmental factors growing up destroyed it all.
My oldest cousin is 24 and 5'10. Not exactly tall but his father/my uncle is just 5'5 while his mother/my aunt is just 5'2. Similarly another older cousin is 22 years old, 6 feet and his father is 5'9 and mother 5'1.
Now the craziest of all my youngest cousin who's just 13 and entering puberty is already 5'10. The crazy part? His father is the shortest of all my uncles at just 5'3 while his mother is like 5'5. He's probably gonna end up the tallest and at least 6'2. Also somehow he's also just 45kg also on the shitty Indian diet(drinks more milk than I ever did though) so it's a wonder how he's growing at such a crazy rate, definitely hit the genetic lottery.
Obviously since we're first cousins we share similar genetics from the paternal side and I know all the families of all my aunts and all of them have normal height genetics for both the men and women so it's not some hidden boost from the mother's side in any of their cases.
Regardless, it's not exactly that I'm jealous of my cousins it's more the "what if" that kills me. All my male cousins are easily 5 inches+ taller than their fathers yet I'm the same height as mine. I also had an x-ray done of my wrists and my plates are nearly fused so I don't have any false hope of late growth either.
I think the worst part for me probably is that I'm the same height as my father while all my cousins are way taller than theirs. Even if I was the shortest cousin, if I was at least visibly comfortably taller than my father I probably wouldn't be so conscious about it.
That's the end of probably the stupidest vent you've ever read. Thanks for reading