Hello everyone! Today I’m bringing you my post for this week’s series about body confidence and acceptance. I’ll have more guest posts tomorrow and Friday, so please check back for those!
I debated about what topic I would tackle for this series for quite a while, and then I finally decided on it: being sorry. As women, I feel like we apologize all the time. I know men apologize as well, but there’s research to back up the claim that women say they’re sorry much more than men do. Sometimes those apologies are warranted, like when you bump into someone or are late for something. Then we’re asking for forgiveness, and that’s different. But most of the time when we say we’re sorry, it’s not necessary.
I first really thought about this after seeing Pantene’s Shine Strong commercial. Why are we apologizing all the time when asking simple questions, especially ones that don’t require forgiveness? If your living room is a little messy or a lamp is left on all day, chances are the world is not going to end. It may be a slight inconvenience if you have company coming over soon or if your electric bill is a little higher than usual, but so what?
Here are some examples off the top of my head of times when I’ve said sorry when it wasn’t necessary:
— “Sorry, I don’t understand what you mean. Can you repeat what you said?”
— “Sorry, I forgot to turn that light off before I left for work.”
— “Sorry, the apartment is pretty dirty.”
— “Sorry I’ve been so busy lately!”
The principle behind “sorry” is that you did something wrong. We are not wrong for wanting to be who we are. There are no set rules for how everyone needs to act or look or think or feel. There may be a general consensus that a lot of people like or even hate a certain thing, but you shouldn’t be ostracized if you don’t like what everyone else loves or vice versa. We are all unique, and we need to stop apologizing for that.
I think the more we apologize for things that we have no control over or that have really nothing to do with us, the more we continue to say it, and the cycle goes on and on and on. And if we’re constantly apologizing for ourselves, how can we accept who we really are?
So in celebration of that, I invite you all to share reasons why you’re not sorry! Here are some of mine:
— I’m not sorry that I like to wear bright colors, both for clothing and for eye makeup. You may think I look ridiculous some days, but I like it.
— I’m not sorry that I’m not a size two. Or eight. Or 12.
— I’m not sorry that there are some days (or even a week here or there) when I don’t post anything on my blog. The world goes on.
— I’m not sorry that I like cheesy TV shows, like The Bachelor and Pretty Little Liars.
— I’m not sorry that I don’t understand Nascar. They turn left. They continue to turn left for hours. I just don’t get it.
— I’m not sorry that I dislike country music. Most of the songs just drive me nuts. I can’t help it.
— I’m not sorry that I love musicals and I love singing songs from them when I’m in the shower, walking around my apartment and even (especially) when I’m driving around in my car.
— And I’m not sorry that I’m not who you think I should be.
