I'll be the first to admit that I suffer from a chronic overuse of the phrase "I'm sorry." I've always considered it a bad habit and told myself that society considered it very taboo. People would be walking down the sidewalk of campus and actually run into me, and I would be the one stuttering out an apology like it was some great disrespect for me to be in their way — while they were the one not looking. Although that hardly seems fair, I consider it to be a genuinely satisfying interaction if I can slip in the phrase, "I'm sorry."

Saying you're sorry doesn't even necessarily mean that you're apologizing, so why do we say it? Maybe as a hello? A goodbye? For me, it's more like an in-between stage of conversation. An ice-breaker. Have you ever really noticed to how an "I'm sorry" can lead to a couple sentences back and forth? Maybe even a conversation? And at the very least a smile. Apologies make even the most tough of us seem approachable. I always throw in a smile and usually I receive a smile in return.

For most of us, we are too stubborn to say "I'm Sorry" when those around us need to hear it most. Being hard-headed can often lead to situations where we hurt those we care about and owe them an apology. For me, saying sorry on the daily to strangers I don't care about makes saying sorry to those I do care about one hundred times easier. That's not to say that those apologies are any less meaningful; in fact, I think they are more heartfelt because they're toward a special someone in your life.

Far too often I don't get an apology I definitely should have received. So for all of those people out there who don't feel the need to shoot me a quick "I'm sorry" after running me over while they're too busy and caught up in their own lives, I'm here happily picking up the slack. Which is why I will never apologize for overusing the phrase "I'm sorry."