6-foot Model on Being a Tall Woman: I Dreaded Being the 'Biggest' of My Friends
Chessie King is a London-based presenter and lifestyle blogger who is confident in her body and loves to help inspire confidence in others.
She recently shared a photo while posing in a bikini alongside her friend Hazel Wallace — including the heights and weights of both women on the image along with a caption that discussed her lifetime of comparing her body to others.
King began the post by explaining that being so tall has affected her self esteem in the past. “Girls…put your hand up if you’ve been dreading getting in your bikini on your girls holiday because you feel like the ‘biggest’ out of your friends? I have always been the tallest out of my group, the ‘biggest build’ & no matter how many bikinis I try on, I would always choose to wear a swimming costume & wrap myself in a towel if I was walking around,” she wrote.
She tells Yahoo Style that while out with friends while she was growing up, people would always joke that she was the ‘mom’ of the group — because she was so much taller than her peers.
“I never felt confident enough to be that taller friend, and I would always try and sit down on like a chair or something while everyone was standing up so I wouldn’t tower over them,” she says. “It obviously affected my posture because I would hold myself different, and it was only until probably about 20 or 21 — two or three years ago — that I really started thinking actually it’s so nice being tall.”
In the Instagram post, her caption points out that although Wallace is a few inches shorter than her and she weighs more than her friend, they are both healthy and fit.
“As you can see, @TheFoodMedic & I are completely different shape but we both workout, we both look after our bodies. We are both HEALTHY & HAPPY,” she wrote. “I had quite a few moments this holiday where the old Chessie creeped in telling me to cover up because I felt ‘bigger’ standing next to Hazel in a bikini but after a little talk with myself I was fine.”
She says that whenever she starts to feel self conscious, she tries to remind herself how lucky she feels to possess her height.
“I tell myself to stop being silly because I’ve got to get over all of that — to just remember how lucky I am that I am tall. It’s not often that you get tall girls that actually hold themselves and are proud of themselves,” she says. King recognizes that both she and Wallace work to maintain their fit physiques — and she has nothing to be ashamed of for simply possessing a larger frame.
“Hazel is her size. She’s amazing her size, and that is her body type and she’s worked hard for it. But also so have I, and I should be proud of it,” she shares. “My mom would always say to me — especially the past two years when I have been working out and looking after myself – ‘Chessie just remember how hard you have worked for this body. Don’t be ashamed. You should show off what you’ve got.'”
The blogger and workout aficionado is fascinated by how much young women and men look to other people’s bodies when examining their own. “It’s amazing how much we all compare ourselves, no matter how many times we say we shouldn’t… we’re all guilty, it’s human — especially for us girls,” she wrote.
However, King doesn’t look at others when judging her own size — and she certainly doesn’t live her life according to the scale.
“I haven’t weighed myself in nearly a year, but I did for this post just to show how much difference there is between us number wise but how similar we are in our mindsets,” she wrote in the post. “Never ever judge someone’s body confidence & securities on just how they look. Yes, Hazel & I both work hard to feel good, all year round, not just holidays… but we are both still learning to fully embrace our own bodies.”
She says that she stays away from the scale because of how it’s affected her self esteem in the past, and she feel that it doesn’t paint an accurate picture of someone’s fitness level. “I workout so much with strength training and weight lifting I honestly don’t think the scales really give a good reading of how healthy you are,” she says.
During past bikini competitions she participated in, she would often get upset if she did not go down in weight after working out. “It would affect my whole day and my mood. Now I don’t even think about weighing myself. I just go by how my clothes fit me and how I feel,” she shares.
The blogger hopes that her post will bring comfort to young women who look different than their friends and feel self conscious because of it. “If you’re going on a ‘girly holiday’ & you can’t stop thinking about how you’re going to look next to everyone else. Stop. Right. Now,” she directed her followers.
“Feeling confident & sexy comes from within, it’s all in the mind. Try & train yourself a little bit every day in the lead up to your holiday. Wear your bikinis in your bedroom, dance around in them, start feeling confident in them before you’re out there & it’s too late. The most important thing & we both did it most days… compliment each other, if you love your friends arms, tell her, it really does make you BOTH feel good.”
Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty:
Why This New Swimwear Brand Didn’t Edit Out the Stretch Marks On Its Models
Lauren Conrad on Launching a Swimwear Line: ‘I Can’t Believe This Is My Job!’
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