The Best Way to Give a Heart-felt Thorough Apology is Through a Letter!

I remember one important time when I was sent to my room for something that I did wrong when I was a pre-teen. I can’t remember exactly what I did wrong, but I can remember how I felt and what I did to ameliorate the problem.

While I sat in my bedroom (without a tv, phone, or as much as a magazine), I sat at my desk to reflect on my behavior. I went through various stages of being angry at my mom to feeling penitent for what I did and wanting to apologize. Then I started to think about what I was going to say instead of “I’m sorry; it will never happen again, I promise.”

I started to write a letter explaining how I was feeling, why I did what I did, why it was wrong, and what I should do next time. I put the letter under my mom’s pillow so she would find it later.

She told me that next day that the letter made her cry. She really appreciated the time I put into it. She explained that she loved me, but disliked the behaviors I was displaying. So, as I got older, I would leave my mom notes expressing how I felt and how much she truly meant to me.

While there is a debate about whether or not “time out “ works, I can tell you that the reflection time for me definitely worked and I am a stronger person now because of it. I still sometimes get emotional when I want to apologize and get everything out verbally, so sometimes the best way to thoroughly apologize is through a heart-felt letter!