Often I get asked the question, “What’s the weather like up there?” Most of the time I’ll reply with the complete opposite of whatever the weather really is. If it’s sunny, I’ll say it’s snowing up here because obviously between me, a 6’11/2 ft girl and a 5’2 girl, there is a definite change in weather, right? I have heard many, many advantages about being tall. Apparently you live longer (I sure hope so, 100 is the goal), because you have longer arms you can reach more things (which is proven true), you might get hired for more jobs (would definitely love) and your longer legs allow you to run fast (bye, I am slow). I think that’s crazy, but hey, maybe it’s true.
For a little bit of life, I honestly wasn’t too big of a fan of being tall. If you saw me now, how I use some of my shorter friends as arm rests or the way I crack the height jokes around people, you would think that I have always loved being tall. That unfortunately is not really the case. Over the course of a couple years I started to despise low ceiling fans and became an advocate for outdoors when I decided to randomly stretch my arms. Finding clothes, especially pants, has also been rough, but that’s a different conversation.
Recently I wanted to reminisce on much simpler times, so I looked back at my elementary school yearbook and saw I was always the tallest girl in my grade. I was also a tri-sport athlete, even though my height was only helpful in two of them — volleyball and basketball. Basketball was interesting because people had the expectation that I was good since I was closer to the goal. Here’s a secret, I was actually super uncoordinated but my height covered for this.
No matter what size you are, how tall or how small you are, I hope you are happy with the way you are. The advantages that a tall person supposedly has are true for anyone. It is all about your mindset and walking with your head held high at all times. One thing that I have heard over the years and still surprises me is when people ask why I do not crouch. At this point in my life, I am not ready to hinder my health or body to meet anyone’s standards or because of any opinion. No one should be. As unique, confident and proud individuals, we must be our own individual — proud of what we have done, what we are doing and what we will do. Be happy that you are short, tall or even taller. When people ask me now what the weather is like up here, I say it’s sunny because it’s always happy and shiny up here.