Mistakes Are Always Forgivable

It takes courage to say “I’m sorry.”

I am not talking about the very Canadian “I’m sorry” we all know and love. You know, the one I give to someone when they accidentally step in my foot? And I am also not talking about the flippant “sorry” you make because your mom tells you to apologize to your brother and you just want to get back to whatever you were doing.

I am talking here about sincerely apologizing when we recognize we have done something wrong or something to hurt another person. The kind of apology you know you need to make but you really don’t want to because to apologize is to admit wrongdoing and to be vulnerable.

No one likes to admit they are wrong. Especially me. Sometimes it takes me some time of working through a whole web of thoughts and feelings and playing back an insides to recognize when I was in the wrong. And sometimes it can feel like too much time has passed to apologize. But I think those are the apologies that take the greatest courage.

Today I will be speaking with someone I haven’t talked to in a long time. I did apologize for some actions that were wrong, and I don’t know if this person accepts my apology or not. That isn’t up to me. What is up to me is to recognize when I am wrong, to sincerely say I am sorry and to ask how I can make it better.

For me, that takes courage. Especially when the relationship matters. To apologize is not weak. It is a statement of strength and it takes tremendous courage. Tomorrow I will be talking about having the courage to release control of the outcome.

Do you have an apology to make? Consider the courage it will take for you to make it. Courage takes practice and this practice can repair the relationships that matter to us.