I'm Sorry
"I'm sorry." I say these two words dozens of times every day. Even when things are not my fault or my responsibility, I find myself apologizing anyway. My daughter does poorly on a test? "I'm sorry sweetheart." Someone was rude to my best friend? "OMG . . . I'm so sorry!" My husband needs clean socks, but I haven't done the laundry yet. "Oh, crap. I'm sorry!" A student turns in late work and I don't get it graded fast enough. "I'm sorry. I'll do it right now!" Why am I apologizing for any of these things? Seriously! I do this because deep down I feel responsible for the happiness of my spouse, my children, my family, my friends, and even my students all day, every day. When they have a bad day, a setback, or are just in a bad mood, I feel that my job is to help them feel better. If I can't help them cheer up, I feel like a failure. While at its core, this is not necessarily a negative thing. Hav