Apologizing for existing comes from a history where your needs were inconvenient, where your presence was tolerated rather than welcomed, where you learned that you are inherently too much. Now you apologize for breathing, for needing, for speaking, for being. You say sorry before you have done anything wrong, as if your existence itself requires forgiveness.
Living in constant apology means disappearing into others comfort, never claiming space, feeling guilty for having needs that disturb.
Stopping the apologies means recognizing that you have a right to exist, that your needs are not intrusion, that you do not need permission to take up space.
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Content informed by trauma research, polyvagal theory (Stephen Porges), somatic experiencing (Peter Levine), and nervous system regulation studies. For comprehensive citations and further reading, see Unfiltered Wisdom: The Book.
About the Author
Robert Greene is the author and founder of Unfiltered Wisdom, a US Navy veteran, and a trauma survivor with over 10 years of experience in nervous system regulation and somatic healing. He is certified in Yoga for Meditation from the Yogic School of Mystic Arts (Dharamsala, India, 2016) and affiliated with Holistic Veterans, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit serving veterans in Santa Cruz, California.