A viral Pantene ad I watched recently drew my attention on a problem that women seem to not even realize they are doing: over apologizing.

The video shows a montage of scenarios where women apologize when it is not needed.

A few situations are as follows:

• Saying sorry to ask for a minute of someone’s time
• Saying sorry when someone runs into you
• Saying sorry when someone interrupts you

After watching the video, I reflected on how many times I’ve said sorry when it wasn’t necessary.

It was a lot.

I’ve apologized when people bump into me, when I drop my ID card on the floor and the cashier can’t swipe it right away and whenever I have to squeeze by someone on the way to class.

This excessive use of the word “sorry” dilutes its meaning. For women especially, we tend to use say “sorry” right before we ask for something without offending anyone.

Examples include, “sorry, can you bring me this?” or “sorry, I have a question.”

We lean on the word “sorry” like a crutch to make us look better before we try to assert ourselves or merely make a request.

This is a bad habit all women should break.

I don’t believe we should stop saying sorry as whole. If you accidentally run into someone or you got in a fight with someone and you’re in the wrong, you should know it’s the right thing to do and say that five-letter word.

But on a day-to-day basis, I think a conscious effort should be made to refrain from apologizing for little things that aren’t significant enough for us to be saying sorry.

The purpose of the Pantene ad was to acknowledge this problem and empower women enough to not be sorry.

Instead of saying “sorry, do you have a minute?” a simple “hi, do you have a minute?” would suffice. It’s possible to directly ask for what you want without having to cushion your question. There is no shame in requesting something or stating your opinion. You shouldn’t shy away if someone nudges you or interrupts you when you’re talking. You have a voice, so use it.