Do you ever blame your height and make excuses for why you can’t do something? I’ve been guilty of this in the past but now I catch myself about to do it and stop myself.
I’ve heard people say (or write in forums) things like:
- “I would love to do [insert activity] but I think I’m too tall for that”.
- “I can’t do [insert action], it’s too hard with my height”.
- “I can’t date [insert person], I’m too tall for them or they’re too short for me”.
- “I don’t think I should, I’ll stand out and people will laugh at me”.
To me, this sounds crazy. Why would you automatically limit yourself from something that you might actually end up enjoying, purely based on your height, which you can’t do anything about anyway! You are is in effect self-sabotaging yourself – behaving in such a way to hurt your own performance and motivation.
To address why you make excuses for your height you need to search deep within yourself, for only you truly know what is holding you back. Everyone is different and everyone will have different reasons for why they make excuses. Maybe you don’t know how to do a particular activity and are embarrassed to ask for help. Maybe you don’t want to put in the work and instead opt to give up without really giving something a fair go. Maybe you lack the confidence in yourself to stand tall and embrace your height. Or maybe you have been taught or told to believe that you are not good enough and this is spilling out into your character.
Whatever your reason may be, I want you to think really long and hard, are you happy with the choices you make? or do you wish you wouldn’t make so many excuses?
I understand that some activities may be more difficult for a taller person (e.g. gymnastics due to the lever effect created from your long limbs) they are however, not impossible. The only limits are the ones you place upon yourself! I say limits are made to be broken.
For quite some time I used to think that I was too tall to do calisthenics, this mindset (embarrassingly) held me back from properly even trying! One day I decided enough was enough, I watched a number of YouTube videos and read blogs about tall people pursing their goals so I swallowed my pride and started with the basics at the gym. I struggled to do 1 proper (full range of motion) chin-up and pull-up. Now, I can do about 7 and my goal is to get to 10. I’m not going to lie, training is difficult and many times I’ve questioned why am I pursing this but ultimately I am out to prove to myself that I can do it, and in the process hopefully inspire and motivate other tall people along the way.
There is absolutely no reason you should ever apologise for your height nor should you ever tell yourself that you cannot do something because you are tall. Your height is a blessing and it comes with many advantages and associated benefits that others would kill to have. You can make a lot of changes to your appearance but you can never alter your height.
In the words of Dr. Seuss:
“why fit in when you are born to stand out”.
Stand tall and be proud!
