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How To Apologize When You Mean It

Matt Gangloff
5 min readMar 15, 2021

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Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Man, did I mess up recently.

I was on this kick of getting back into shape and did it wrong. I basically just starved myself.

I was irritable as hell after a week of that. I noticed myself getting angry in traffic, grumbling under my breath when I walked out of the house without my wallet.

Then, I snapped at someone I care about.

I used the words “Fuck you.” I never say those words. Not unless I’m trying to be funny. I never direct them at people. I don’t even say those words when someone cuts me off in traffic. Okay, I do but usually not with the windows rolled down.

It just came out. It shocked me. It was like someone else said it. I almost looked over my shoulder. I literally couldn’t control myself. Sure, we were arguing but nothing that warranted that kind of language.

I was in too deep at that point. And I just kinda went with it. The conversation ended in a standoff. We were both pissed, both said some things that we probably wish we didn’t, and it wasn’t clear if we were committed to working through it or if this was just the end of the relationship.

It took me days to cool off.

When I finally did, it was clear I owed this person an apology. But I was also still kinda pissed. Every draft text message…

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Matt Gangloff
Matt Gangloff

Written by Matt Gangloff

I teach the how-to’s of Post-Traumatic Growth: How to heal and grow, find a new mission, become your best self and build a meaningful life. www.mattgangloff.com

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