An Interesting Thought

How often do we hear an apology accompanied by:

“but I was PMSing.”
“but I’d been drinking.”
“but I’ve had a rough day.”
“but I was distracted.”

I was thinking of it because of course, I’m vain enough to do that — to make excuses for myself and why a behavior I didn’t like in myself wasn’t “really so bad”.

What would things look like, I wonder, if we developed the courage to face our choices in behavior to the point where we can say, “Yes, I did X thing. I don’t like it that I did it, and I’m sorry I did it. I’ll try in the future to correct that behavior and not do it again.”? (If we’re really sorry about our behavior, of course!)

In doing that though, I don’t mean saying, “I’m an awful person and I did X”. I mean facing it without self recrimination, but simple acknowledgment, accompanied by any apology you feel necessary and a sincere desire to correct it.

Serenely accepting imperfection and still trying without slacking, I think, can be hard.