My View From 5’11”

Do you ever feel like society makes you challenge the way God so perfectly made you? I don’t know why this has been weighing on my heart a lot lately. Perhaps it’s the comments or DMs we get saying “you’re not that tall” “you don’t look tall” etc. While on the flipside people in public still tend to stare and make comments about how tall I am. Which sometimes makes me think do I deserve to be 50% of a blog called The REAL TALL? (I do!) Am I even tall? Am I credible to write on clothing for tall women? Would I own a blog called The Real Tall on my own? Probably not. Because I couldn’t help the majority of tall women but I do add my own spice to this one. 

Why is this so conflicting for me? Because it’s so polarizing from both ends of the spectrum. If I am with my family where I am the shortest I can easily sink into the background and avoid the noise. Conversely, with my girlfriends I am easily the tallest especially when set next to my petite best friends. If I am with just Jenilee I feel like I need to say something when the ignorant humans make hurtful and unnecessary comments or stand next to her to see if they are taller. So sometimes this sends me spiraling into a confusing place. Why is it anyone’s place to question how my maker made me? 

I want to make clear that I am perfectly happy with who I am and when I am with the people I love, I don’t care what size they are and in return I don’t think they care either. I am accepted and loved and happy but for some reason still feel called to put these words on paper for the small talls out there. An ode to the above average height people but below extraordinarily tall people. 

And with that, I say you fit wherever you want to be. For me that is tall. My family is tall and I am tall. I am the shortest but I am tall and that is what makes our entire family so amazingly unique and memorable. I still have to purchase clothing from the tall range because the mainline items don’t fit me properly. It is still hard to find all the shoe options I want because my feet are above average in size. And if I get invited to something last minute, I likely can’t find something in the store the day of, that will fit me how I would like.

I know Jenilee typically writes our posts and I feel that she does a wonderful job of covering both of our thoughts/beliefs etc. Even if it is my outfit I have expressed to her my love for that piece enough that she can express it for me. That is just how our roles have naturally divided in our blog and in my opinion it works perfectly. However, I wanted to write a post for the ladies who stand at my level so you know you belong here just as much as any one woman who is taller than you. I think what makes our blog so special and unique is that we get to show you a better spectrum of the tall range. We can show you the same item in the same size on two completely different bodies. There isn’t a lot of gray area in these parts if you’re anywhere on the tall spectrum. You may be taller and thinner, shorter and curvier, flat, busty and you can still get a pretty good idea of how an item will fit based off of one of us! 

I guess in a very long winded way I am trying to say you fit in here. And you deserve to be whoever you want to be. You deserve to have the resources to buy clothing and shoes that make you feel like the best version of you. You should wear the heels if you love them. You should block out the haters and shut down the criticism of strangers if you feel called to do so and not feel bad about it. Granted there is a kind way to do so, which is the route we try and take but sometimes feelings get hurt too quickly and your mouth takes over before your truth self can evaluate what is being said. 

And on the same token: do your best to treat others the same as you would like to be treated, without judgment, without questioning or commenting on who they are. Instead be an ally. Ask how it makes them feel or how you can support them for being tall, short, black, white, obese, disabled, etc. 

As a random side note to this post I want to give a shoutout to a company we resonate so closely with: Amalli Talli. We know you hear that name often around here but in case you haven’t seen posts from the past they are also sisters running a company at nearly identical heights to both of us. We love that because it gives them the same insight as us that all (tall) body types are different and sometimes two different cuts are necessary to satisfy all of the tall needs. They have so many new summer drops that come in multiple lengths and support a variety of summer needs. Head to their site to check them out and if you happen to snag a few goodies you can use our code THEREALTALL15 to receive 15% off (one time use). So load up while you can! 

In conclusion this post was all over the place but I feel good about it. I stopped blow drying my hair midway to write it because the inspiration hits and that doesn’t happen all that often so hopefully you can take something away from my random thought purge. Thanks for being here and for being you!  And thanks to the Good Lord for making me ME!