Apparently being a 6-foot tall girl with a really bad RBF and the slightest bit of confidence makes you really unapproachable. Being tall has never bothered me. I never felt out of place when I towered over my friends or if my boyfriend was a tad shorter than me. I loved being the tallest on the volleyball court and intimidating the other team. I carried confidence with pride when it came to my height because having long legs and a big personality was second nature to me. I've stood out my whole life and it's something I've gotten used to. I've accepted that there's always going to be eyes on me if I'm out in public, especially if I'm with people that are shorter than me.
Luckily, I was a confident person growing up. Most of my friends were a size 0 and weighed 110 pounds. Then there was me, a size 10 and 155 pounds. Looking back now, I'm glad I never compared my size to theirs. It could've caused a lot of body image issues for me, if not worse. It makes sense to me now the reason why so many girls have eating disorders in their younger years. I was lucky enough to have parents that empowered the fact that I was tall and always made me feel proud of it.
Nothing and no one ever got in my head about being tall. I've heard every joke in the book and I would always just laugh it off or even play into it because I thought it was funny that my height stood out so much, people felt the need to comment on it or bully me about it. But never in a million years did I think people would be intimidated of me, especially guys who are taller than me. I also didn't realize that I come off as unapproachable or closed off when I'm in public.
I've had people tell me that I come off as a jerk at first, but once they actually talk to me and get to know me a little, they realize I'm a nice person and just like everyone else. My favorite is when guys slip me a note saying to text them or something. I always call them out on it because I want to know why they felt like they couldn't just come up to me and say hi or introduce themselves (and it's funny to watch them stumble). I've been told it's because they were too scared too or because I have a large presence and they didn't know how to deal with it.
My most recent interaction was recently (and sparked me to write this article). I walked into a party with three of my roommates the other night, I feel as if I should include that they're all under 5'5". I made eye contact with a guy that was probably 6'4" give or take, so I smiled so it wasn't awkward. He then walks past me and says, "Hey 6'5", how you doin?" Although my roommates and I all found it funny, I also found it very unattractive that he was so intimidated by me, he felt the need to say something degrading to make me feel insecure about it.
I find it so interesting that some people just don't know how to handle me. I can't believe I even have to clarify this, but I'm just like everyone else. Yeah, I can be loud and extroverted, but if someone approaches me, I'm not going to bite their head or something. My mindset has always been to give the same energy that I receive. I know approaching strangers can make people anxious or shy, but just say hi instead of slipping someone a piece of paper and most definitely keep your rude comments to yourself. It's not cute!
