Women have been accustomed to apologizing all the time. Being more emotionally driven and socially conscious than men, women care a lot about how they present themselves to others. We’ve all been there: we find ourselves in a situation where we don’t want to seem too aggressive or assertive, so we hide behind the safe word, “sorry.” There’s a problem at work, everyone’s silent, but you think you might have the solution for it: you start your sentence with, “I’m sorry, I think I might have a suggestion…” You’re in a meeting, and you want to share your opinion. You start with, “I’m sorry, I think…” You approach your team member to help with your project, and you say, “I’m sorry, but I need to ask a favor from you.”
2. Being polite doesn’t require you to say sorry.
In this day and age, the idea of a woman being strong and confident shouldn’t be so taboo. In fact, it’s sexy when a woman is so sure of herself. You don’t need to put down yourself for fear of being misconstrued for being too “assertive.” If you interject the word sorry in most of what you say, you put yourself in a lower position than someone else because it’s almost like you’re saying, “I’m sorry for being me!”
4. Expressing yourself shouldn’t require an apology.
5. You shouldn’t apologize for being yourself.
Remember Marianne Williamson’s poem, “Our Deepest Fear”? You might recall its famous first two lines:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”
It certainly rings true for women who feel like they have to hide just how good they are for fear of being ostracized. The reason we say sorry a lot is because we want to shrink behind a safe word to draw away too much attention that can lead to insecurity. The most powerful and successful individuals knew what they wanted and were steadfast in their goal to claim it. There’s really no other way to put it except to carry yourself with confidence.
