Do you over-apologize? Here’s how to stop it (VIDEO)

“I’m sorry I talked so long.”

A lot of what I say ends like this, whether it’s to a friend or even to my mom. Like a lot of young women, I struggle with the feeling that taking the time to express myself or writing a lengthy email is selfish or self-obsessed, that I’m taking up too much of someone else’s time.

In this video, Catholic speaker and author Emily Wilson is calling out women on the epidemic of over-apologizing for things that do not require an apology. She says, “When we apologize for so many things, we begin to apologize almost for living, and almost for existing, and almost for being ourselves.”

Her advice comes from her fellow speaker and YouTuber Fr. Mike Schmitz, and it’s quite simple: turn your “I’m sorry” into “Thank you.”

Don’t say, “I’m sorry I talked for so long.” Instead, say, “Thank you for listening to me.” This simple change has the power to free us from the feeling of being a burden to others. As she puts it, “God created you to be you, and you don’t have to apologize for being you.”

She continues, “Who you are, unapologetically, unashamedly, you is not ‘too much.’ You are loved just as you are.”