I don’t know about you but I love haters.
Before I go on let me clarify what I mean by haters.
I’m referring to those people who, without having gotten to know me, make assumptions about me and gear themselves negatively towards me.
I don’t encounter these people very often but when I do they all exhibit the same traits and behaviours. They are the types of people that in a social situation will make fun of my height more than once and try to make it the centre of the entire interaction in the hopes to make themselves look better.
Why are some people haters?
I’d say that 90% of the time it’s because of my height.
That’s really bizarre, isn’t it?
I have absolutely no control over how tall I grow nor am I defined by my height. Yet, people will still criticise me for it. It hardly seems fair but that is human nature and that is how the world has been and how it will continue to be. I could get upset about this and scream until I go red or learn to deal with it.
The reason people hate on us because of our height is because they are jealous.
Let’s face it, despite some inconveniences, being tall is awesome,
Some people out there have a height complex. They feel that for whatever reason their (lack of) height makes them inferior. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In most cases the root cause of this is a lack of true confidence in themselves.
In general, when you wear well fitted clothes and stand with good posture people will notice you. Add height into the equation and you will stand out even more.
Am I going to dress worse, stand with poor posture and make myself look small just so that people with a height complex don’t feel bad?
Hell to the no I’m not.
I’ve been blessed with this height and I’ll be damned if I’m going to be made to feel guilty about having it.
The best way to deal with haters
When in a social situation: smile, politely dismiss the comment and steer the conversation away, paying not much attention to the person trying to bring you down. The key is to remain calm and not get angry or defensive. Failing to remain calm will not only make you look like a loose cannon (one that cannot control their emotions) but it will show that you actually care what people say about your height.
A confident tall person is not phased by the opinions of others about their height.
If you have a ‘friend’ that is always making fun of your height then you need to think long and hard what this so called ‘friend’ is trying to achieve. I’m not talking about banter and inside jokes you might have with friends. I’m referring to friends that every so often make passive aggressive or sometimes blatant negative comments about you. If you have friends that are jealous of you based on how you carry yourself and dress then perhaps they aren’t really as good as friends as you think. My suggestion is to observe and if you find that in fact they are slowly trying to bring you down you can either a) call them out on their behaviour or if you feel that it isn’t worth the effort simply slowly start to cut them out of your life.
At the end of the day if someone can’t accept you for your tall awesome self they are not worth your time, effort and energy. This is the simple yet brutal truth. It’s not your responsibility to make someone feel better about themselves, that’s on them.
Personally I don’t care nor do I lose sleep over people that try to bring me down. I’m proud of my height, am working on becoming the best version of myself so why would I waste time worrying about the opinions of others that jealous? Meeting haters makes me smile because it means I’m doing something right!
A message to all the tall people
Ultimately, the key to not letting the opinions and comments of others bother you is to work on building true (forever lasting) confidence. Learn to develop strong body language and good posture, dress well (if you like to wear heels then wear heels), stay fit, eat wholesome real food, fine tune your skill set and never stop learning new things.
Never, not even for one second should you let someone make you feel guilty about your height.
“People will stare. Make it worth their while” – Harry Winston
Until next time,
Art of Tall
- Image credit for thumbs down (cover image): here
