Very tall women can get confidence from short women.
This article is for very tall women who are unhappy or self-conscious about their height. To tall women who stand over six feet, I am considered way too short to give advice: I stand 5-8.
However, even tall women who are just two inches taller than me, can be as negatively preoccupied with their height as very tall women who come in at 6-2.
The analogy here is overweight women: A woman who’s just 15 pounds overweight can be just as negatively fixated on this as the woman who’s 100 pounds overweight.
Many comments to my other tall women articles are from men who love tall women.
Some are from very tall women who love their height. Some are rather unrelated to the immediate topic. And some are from very tall women who say they felt better about their height after reading my articles.
And a few are from ladies of extra height who challenge my position to judge them.
My “judging” consists of encouraging self-conscious tall women to embrace their height.
My “judging” consists of telling them to relish their height, to flaunt it, to show it off.
I go on and on about the glory of having extra height, all the benefits, the power that it can bring if tall women would only let it.
But the peculiar thing is that all this gushing advice comes from a woman who’s only 5-8.
It’s all relative. If you’re 5-3, then I am not “only” 5-8. But if you’re six feet, then yes, I am “only” 5-8. So what would I know about how tall women should feel? How they should deal with height issues? Who am I to give advice?
But that’s the whole point! In a way, my advice should have a unique punch, because I am NOT extra tall. Let’s take plus-size women, for example.
Suppose we have a 250-pound woman who’s just as despondent over her girth, as is a very tall (but proportionate) woman is over being six feet.
Now suppose several equally big women keep telling this 250-pound woman to get “comfortable” with her body, and that there is beauty in all sizes.
In fact, there are legions of very big, full-figured women who are out there proclaiming beauty at any size.
But that self-conscious 250-pound woman, even hearing all of this from a much heavier woman, will usually still come out feeling pretty uptight about her size.
Encouragement coming from other corpulent women just isn’t powerful enough.
But what if legions of THIN women began telling this 250-pound woman to embrace her size, that beauty comes in all sizes?
What if just ONE skinny woman gave words of encouragement to this plus-size woman?
I think it could really boost her self-esteem. In fact, I know it. As a personal trainer, I have made very big women feel much better about themselves, even though I don’t look like them.
This same principle can be applied to the very tall woman, hearing words of encouragement from me, a shortie at 5-8.
But still, do I know what it’s like to be the tallest in a crowd? SHOULD I ? And besides, I actually do! At 5-8, there have been plenty of times I’ve been the tallest in a group of women (elevators, in line at the store or bank, at the gym, the post office line, just about anywhere).
Do I know what it’s like to be the same height or taller than “all the men” ? SHOULD I?
And besides, I actually do! Just yesterday at the gym, I was taller than all of the men in my immediate area.
And a while later, some other men outright towered over me. These very tall men also would have towered over any 5-11 woman.
So even though I’m “only” 5-8, I’ll say it again: A woman should, and can, relish her extra height and make it work for her in most wonderful ways.
And if this woman gets rude comments, realize that the rudeness is what it is. “Gosh, you’re so tall,” is not a rude comment. But “Gee, your hairstyle is ugly,” IS a rude comment.
Maybe it’s an art to be able to distinguish between what’s truly rude, and what’s simply mindless, social utterances from well-meaning people.
Of course, in high school, girls of extra height truly do get ridiculed and harassed — but only if they broadcast their disapproval of being tall in the first place.
Meanwhile, other tall teens get compliments and nobody dares ridicule them — but only because they’ve broadcasted their embracement of extra height.
How people treat you is a reflection of how you regard yourself.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
.
