I was listening to a podcast by Cara Alwill Leyva (episode 70) this week that really got me thinking. (If you are not listening to her podcasts, you are definitely missing out.) Anywho, someone complimented her hair after Soul Cycle and her response was something to the effect of : thanks I am sorry it’s such a mess and I am so sweaty. I am thinking wait, what??? Of course you are sweaty! You just rode your ass off for 90 minutes! But…. this got my brain buzzing and I really started to do some auditing of myself on this subject and the language I am using.
Fast forward to Saturday morning and as my friend and I are sitting down having our coffee, he announces: I want this to be the year that the women in my life quit saying “I am sorry.” He then went into an example with one of his daughters walking down the hall toward him and she scoots over and says “I’m sorry” and lets him pass. He is like wait, sorry? For what? For taking up space in our home? This example, just like the other, was totally absurd to me! But as I said, had already been on my mind. I realized I do the same thing. If someone is coming toward me, I stop, scoot over and say “I’m sorry.” Although I have always convinced myself that it was the “polite” thing to do, my brain called bullshit on that today! If it was polite, I would say “please, go ahead” NOT “I’ m sorry.”
I am just so perplexed why as women we literally feel like we need to apologize for simply existing. Where in the actual hell did that come from?? And this is not a problem that is unique to me. In doing my self audit, I have discovered it is prevalent in many women. I may never know why we feel the need to do this but I do know this is the year for me that I stop apologizing for every damn thing.
Now, don’t get me wrong. There are times an apology is warranted and should be given and I am absolutely not speaking about that. I am speaking about how we use it when it is absolutely not appropriate. So what about you Sassy? Do you do this as well? Before you answer, I encourage you to take a couple of days to do a self audit of your own. You might be surprised! If so, I encourage you to also make this the year of no more I am sorry! One of my favorite sayings: “Your new life is going to cost you your old one.” Not sure where this came from but it’s totally true. The more you evolve, you will lose some people along the way. Evolve anyway.
With love,
Nicole
