Barbie wants you to stop saying ‘sorry’, but say thank you instead

If you didn’t know, the iconic doll is now also a Youtube vlogger – you’d swear she was a millennial – who gives tips and tricks to tweens and teens, but that doesn’t mean those of us who are older can’t learn from her too. 

In her latest vlog, she talks about the “sorry reflex”. You know, when women automatically apologise when they’re not even at fault. 

“I have some ideas about sorry,” Barbie says in the animated video. “…I think there’s a bigger issue around ‘sorry,’ especially with girls. We say it a lot. Like, a lot. Like it’s a reflex, and that somehow everything that goes wrong is our fault.”

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She gives examples like when we’re walking and someone bumps into us, we immediately say sorry. Or when we’re at a restaurant and the food is cold, we say sorry for having it warmed. Or when we feel sad, we say sorry in case it makes other people feel sad too. 

Barbie rightfully says that it’s important that people are kind, polite and thoughtful and that they should offer sincere apologies when they’ve done something wrong, but saying “sorry” when we haven’t done anything wrong takes away from who you are and your self confidence.

So what should you do instead of saying “sorry” all the time? Barbie suggests saying thank you instead of sorry. When you’re sad, say “thank you for understanding me” instead of sorry, when you’re late, say “thank you for waiting for me” instead of sorry. When someone bumps into you, say “that’s okay” instead of sorry.

A difficult habit to break, right?

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Oprah.com also says that we’re especially guilty of doing it at work in emails. They suggest downloading the Just Not Sorry Gmail plugin that highlights phrases in your emails that may be undermining what you’re really trying to say.

The Muse highlights that sometimes saying “whoops” or “okay” is also a good replacement for saying sorry. 

What do you do instead of saying sorry? Tell us on Facebook or Twitter