a fantastic way to deal with stares and those questions and comments

Face it, it you are tall you get a lot of stares and questions and comments. I think tall women get it even more because it is more ok to be tall if you are a guy.

I deal with this by being positive. When someone asks a dumb question or makes one of those comments we all hear, I smile and give them a complement. It completely changes what goes on and can leave both of us happy. I've had some very nice conversations that have started this way and have been able to have met some great people I would have never met on my own.

Colleen was interested in making more people happy and decided to give strangers high fives. Here is her blog post and a video.

Look at some of the people! This is really wonderful and I will try it myself soon. It takes getting your nerve up a bit and may be easier if you convince a friend to do it with you, but it is going to make some people smile and that is a good thing.

We talls have a natural advantage here. It is probably much harder to do if you were of average height. This is a way to take advantage of our stature and make a lot of people smile.

Colleen rocks!

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Comment by Jheri Olsen on January 17, 2010 at 9:32am: Last week I mentioned a friend's high five video. Since then I've tried it in public a few times and now believe it is a FANTASTIC way for tall women to feel good about themselves and bring a lot of smiles to strangers you meet on the street. I think this would work very well for tall teens, but some of you may have to get your nerve up. Here is an email I sent to some people I know based on what I tried last week and yesterday:

Colleen is taller than me and gets all of the stares and comments. She has found a way to turn some of that into happiness. When she approaches someone walking and they start to look, she gets their eye contact and then says something like "you look like you could use a high five" ... then she raises her hand and does it. She told me she feels fantastic for the whole day when she is doing this. Last week she asked someone to follow her with a camera and made this youtube video

I was walking a large pedestrian street at noon and the weather was sunny with no wind. I tried Colleen's high five on several people. I would wait for eye contact as we approached I would smile and say "dav med dig, high five?", which is the closest Danish for "hey there, high five?". If they were younger I would just say "hey there! want a high five?" because English is common and more cool and there is no Danish for "high five". Almost everyone smiled and did it back.

I saw a lot of smiles and high fives happen in an hour. 15 or 20 maybe. One guy looked like it was so much fun that I yelped when we did it. I noticed other people watching and smiling.

It is really fun to do this with little kids. What worked for me is getting their mother's attention and then smiling at the kid and saying "both of you could use a high five". The kids watch as them mom does it and get very excited. Then you bend down and give them a little high five and then make them jump for the next one like Colleen did. They get so happy!

Some of the people will chat afterwards, but most just go on with a smile on their face.

Colleen is right. This is completely natural and wonderful, even in places like Denmark. I think this is perfect for tall girls and women. It may be a little hard to get your nerve up at first, so you may want to go out and try it with friends. And, of course, those of you who are single can do this with guys:-) :-)

I don't know about tall guys, but I'd love to hear how it works for you!!

Showing that you are happy and willing to spread it is a good thing.

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a fantastic way to deal with stares and those questions and comments

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