Sorry, Not Sorry 🙊

Words lose their meaning. Like “I love you,” when you throw out “sorry” or “thanks” all the time, it stops meaning much. I even caught myself exaggerating—“I’m truly sorry” “I’m very, very sorry”—just to sound sincere. But really, why would I need to stack adjectives just to make words mean what they already should?

Accidentally taking the blame Once, a coworker’s project failed. I said “sorry” just to show empathy… and my boss assumed I was admitting guilt. I wasn’t even responsible for that project! Turns out, automatic apologies can quietly hand over blame you don’t deserve.

How you're seen by others To others, constant “sorrys” can sound insecure. Whether you mean to or not, it seems to tell people: I think I’m in the way, I must have done something wrong. Actually, I think I’m not insecure at all, or well maybe a bit. But that’s not the image I want to share with others!

Breaking the habit This is a habit I’m not the only one noticing, people around me often point out how much I say “sorry,” and honestly, it must be uncomfortable for them too.

It sounds easy to just replace sorrys with silence, but it’s not easy at all. But what I’ve found a bit easier is to replace sorrys with something else. My family has a running joke: every time I say an unnecessary sorry, I supposedly owe them 10 push ups (a punishment I’ve never done, so it’s not exactly working). But seriously, I’m making an effort to break the “I’m sorry” habit by:

• Swapping small, automatic sorrys for quick sounds like “oops”, that acknowledge the moment without actually apologizing.
• Replacing sorrys with thanks, and making those thanks specific instead of generic. For example, instead of “sorry I’m late,” I'm trying to say “thanks for waiting.” This one is a great tip that learned from Colby’s newsletter 1% better

It’s not easy, but it already feels better than living stuck in a loop of meaningless apologies. If you find yourself in a similar situation and got some tips please share them with me! And if you try these ones please tell me if they worked for you too!

I hope you liked this post, and if you didn’t, sorry not sorry.