Hey everyone! I am back and today I would like to share about the comments I receive EVERY time I leave my house.
"OMG WHY ARE YOU SO TALL???"
(drawings are from a horrible comic book I have no idea if I will release as of yet)
If you're tall like me, you know exactly what I am talking about when I refer to "tall person comments". I've spent years trying to come up with creative ways to answer people who come up to me yelling out "woah, you're an NBA player aren't you!!?" Yes...really, the NBA. I'm not even going to share how the majority of humanity continues to ignore the fact that there is an actual WNBA lol!! Only to realize the only way through these situations is by embrace. It is super uncomfortable, I know, to be reacted to ALL THE TIME by strangers who have literally never seen a tall person I guess, but I also want to say that you do not owe anyone any kind of explanation or answer.
I think over the years, friends, family members, SO's who did not understand the feeling of being bombarded by people all the time liked to say things like "you should have fun with it. You should embrace the comments. You said you wanted to be a public figure, this is what you are. You shouldn't look so mean. You should blah blah blah lol...It was always turned on to me, like some I had to endure these comments because it is some kind of gift. EW...
Maybe these people meant well, but to me, it was like I could never be the right kind of tall person and my reactions or words were never heard. They seemed to want me to always say something different then what I felt was right at the time of the interaction. When in reality, most, if not all of these people have NO IDEA what it feels like to be stared at so intrusively that I feel my privacy was being peered upon all the time, invading my every move. It is very hard to explain this to people who believe that being stared at and having unwanted attention ALL THE TIME is something to be desired. IT is even harder to explain this, when people tell me I need to lighten up because I am apparently asking for this unwanted attention due to me pursuing acting, modeling etc...
So here is my long story short advice, please do YOU. Do not fall into trying to be entertaining or sarcastic or interesting to please other peoples wishes for your experience and processing of unwanted attention. The truth is that people who do not have this "gift", have literally no idea what it feels like and that is not your burden, nor responsibility to allow to affect your truthful, authentic reactions.
How to Handle Tall People Comments when dealing with Social Anxiety:
I'm going to deep dive into this for a moment. I know there is a lot of people in general who deal with anxiety on a daily basis. And, of course there are tall people who face anxiety daily. I sometimes have social anxiety and to be honest, I used to get so much social anxiety that I would literally keep my head in a hat and dark glasses on and every time I could tell someone was about to come up to me, I would walk away super fast.
I'm not sure people really understand how many times I get stopped, yelled at, talked to and engulfed by humanities curiosities of my large body every time I go anywhere. Sometimes it is exhausting. Sometimes I resent my height. Sometimes I genuinely wish I could be invisible just to buy my groceries without being stared at. And all of these feelings are okay. I am human and there comes a point to where I have to accept that social anxiety is part of my life as much as living in a body that shocks the world. My reactions are a form of expression to my experience and I do not owe anyone anything.
If you take anything from this short piece, it is to understand you do not owe anyone anything. You owe yourself peace, kindness and stress free living. Gift that to your large frame of mind ; )
