Saying sorry is a natural reaction for me. I've always been the type of person to immediately apologize for my actions, whether I did something wrong or not. No matter how trivial, I felt as if it was my responsibility to apologize so someone else would not get their feelings hurt. Sometimes, it wouldn't even be something I did, I just felt the need to say sorry to ease the tension and keep the balance in the room.
Now, I realize that I am done with doing that. Putting other people's happiness before my own has always been my tragic flaw; I would always sacrifice my own feelings for those of others because I didn't want to cause a rift in any situation. Whether it would be apologizing to my friends when, in reality, they were wrong, or simply saying sorry as my natural reaction, I recently decided that this habit was one I needed to break.
First and foremost, constantly apologizing is not going to impress anyone or make people take me seriously. Employers make an effort for their future employees to know that confidence is essential to their success. Saying sorry, whether or not I make a mistake, shows I am not confident in my abilities. Why would an employer want to hire me if I demonstrate this quality, or why would they want to promote me if I am always passive and apologetic? The short answer is, they wouldn't.
Even the simple act of apologizing for the simple decisions in life reduces confidence levels. Without encouraging and reassuring yourself that you made the right decision, it's hard to gain those confidence levels that others look for in a role model. I've never wanted to have someone look at me and say "Wow, I'm sure she's a great person, but I don't really look up to her." Now, I'm not sure if they would say it just like that, but you get the gist. I try to strive to be someone that people look up to for advice and guidance.
Save saying sorry for the times you actually mean it. If you do the opposite, that simple word will lose its value. The people you love and look up to will no longer take you seriously if you say sorry all the time. You are trying not to hurt someone's feelings, but by apologizing over and over again, they'll discredit your apology when they actually need one, thus hurting them in the end.
I struggle with saying sorry on a daily basis, it's simply a gut reaction for me at this point. I know that if I want to change this habit, it's going to be difficult. But for the reasons I've listed above and more, I know my time for saying sorry is coming to a close.