People see me as weak and it makes me feel worthless

Im female, nearly out of my twenties and it annoys me how people mention my size/think im weak. Im only 5ft and a small build so obviously im not as strong as the average guy but Id say Im not weak compared to other women. I can beat some guys at arm wrestles and with a bit of training can do 11 pull ups.

At work the service manager advised me not to walk down a path at lunchtime on my own as im only tiny, yet other female collegues do and who taller but not as stocky/weaker than me.

I didnt think much of that she was only trying to help but today I went out of my house to see a woman trying to push a car back onto her drive with a man (another neighbour). They were struggling so i offered to help and the woman, who seemed annoyed and flustered, said ‘uh I dont think your strong enough love’. Then she stood and thought a bit and started shouting for her son to get out and help them. I heard a lad coughing he took a while but came out, he was probably in his 30’s) but then i saw him come out of the door.

The woman said ‘he’s really not well, he’s got heart failure’. She said to him half shouting ‘we need your help’. He started pushing and I felt tight walking away I was concious of being intrusive but she seemed ok with me being there so i started helping them to push. The lad was coughing away and kept having to stop, we eventually got the car on the drive.

Now the lad was stronger than me he was taller im not denying that but I felt perfectly capable of pushing the car with the other man, but she seemed to want her son to do it depsite him being in heart failure. She thanked me after and said i was very kind.

I’l be honest as a female i do feel useless, maybe cause when i was younger i was always considered the athletic one who had strength/was good at sport. Im not much good at anything else (ive no social skills/am not attractive or clever) so when people see me as weak and vulnerable it gets me down. Would any of you feel the same, would you feel a bit worthless if the above happened?

Is there any way i could rectify this, i cant imagine bodybuilding would help id still be 5ft and small in build but if people saw i had a sculpted look could they change their perception of me?

Hello, I'm 6"1 and 17 years old. I can't really empathise but I can see why you might feel down when people perceive you as weak. I think the best thing to do would be to work out (something which I have yet to do) and try not to take things like that to heart, make light of it: humour is a great way to not let it get to you: just say something like 'yeah I'm small but mighty' or something funnier if you can think of it. Furthermore, how you feel is more important than how others see you, I aim to start working out in the near future, mainly because I know it will make me feel better about myself; in turn this will impact how others see me: the in effect if you try and put your own mind at ease first the effect will be reciprocal. Reply if you're not satisfied with what I've said.