Stop Apologizing!
Sep 23rd, 2010
While waiting in the check-out at Target the other day, I heard a woman in another line overly apologizing for something. As I listened, it became very clear that this woman had nothing to be sorry about. She had questioned the clerk about the price of an item that rang up full price even though she had picked it up on the clearance rack. She didn’t put it on the clearance rack and she wasn’t the one that keyed it into the register incorrectly but yet there she stood apologizing to everyone around her. Sound familiar? Maybe these conversation starters will ring a bell:
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but …”
“I’m sorry to bother you, but do you have …”
“Sorry to be a pain, but I was wondering if …”
I am guilty of using all of the above but lately, a lot less. I realized how meek I sounded when I was constantly apologizing for things that I had no need to be sorry for. Now I only apologize when an apology is due. For instance, I will say I am sorry to my husband after screaming obscenities at him for being 3 minutes late to dinner. I will apologize to the neighbor who I almost plowed down with my SUV trying to make it to pick-up in time. But I will no longer apologize for merely existing. Apologize when it’s necessary, mean it and move on.
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Written by Lea Barlow • Leave a comment
