You may not know this about me, but outside of running my business and hanging with my awesome hubby and pups, I love to choreograph musicals! I am very blessed to get to work with Champaign Central High School’s drama program - an awesome bunch of kiddos who work hard and are extremely committed (we usually do 8 shows each school year). Last night, I was in rehearsal with them and I noticed that every time they were corrected on a line, how to say a joke, where they should be in their dance formations, or on anything - Their first reaction was to say “I’m sorry.”
The amazing Scott Pullan recently explained to me why I’m sorry is just about the worst thing in the world to say. The meaning of sorry is hopeless, regrettable, or unfortunate. If you saw an ad for a house in “sorry” condition, you’d never consider buying it. So why are we constantly going around calling ourselves sorry?! When you say I’m sorry you’re literally saying I’m hopeless, I’m regrettable, I’m unfortunate. … WHAT?!?!?!? No wonder people have issues understanding they are worthy of success and greatness! (Thank you, Scott, for teaching me this!)
Instead of saying “I’m sorry” every time we make mistakes, what if we replaced it with “Thank you.” What if we looked at mistakes as gifts - as opportunities to learn and grow, and then thanked whoever was involved and got to help us in that process. With the drama students - what if they said “thank you” when they were corrected and had gratitude for the learning process they get during rehearsal in order to become better actors, rather than just feeling bad that they did it wrong? If you think about the last time you said sorry - maybe you were late, you forgot something, you bumped into someone… What if you thanked the other person instead of apologizing? Even if the mistake didn’t involve anyone else, you could thank yourself or the universe for the opportunity to learn from the experience and grow, which feels far more empowering to me than “I’m sorry.” I’d rather be grateful than “sorry.”
I challenge you for the rest of this month whenever you feel the need to say “I’m sorry” replace it with “thank you” and find something to be thankful for in that moment, then decide if you ever want to call yourself “sorry” again.