Sorry is for mistakes. Stop spending it on taking up space.

Said often enough, the word stops carrying weight, and it starts teaching you something untrue: that your questions, your seat on the bus, and the two minutes you took are impositions. Real apologies matter and should land somewhere. Most of the ones in a given day are not apologies at all but a reflex for being present in a room that has other people in it.

Try catching one a day this week. When sorry is about to come out for asking a question or walking past someone, swap in thanks for waiting, or say nothing and keep moving. Save the word for the times you got something wrong.