I Want To Say Sorry
A simple site with a humble heart
It’s hard to say sorry.
There are a million ways to do it wrong. Most people know the obvious ones — don’t say “I’m sorry, but...” or “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
But there are other sneakier ways we invalidate our own efforts to apologize: by burdening the receiver with our emotions (“I feel terrible”), asking for anything in return (“Please forgive me”), and explaining our actions (“I didn’t know”). An apology should be a gift for the person you've hurt.
We were inspired by a podcast by Brené Brown and Harriet Lerner about the magic of apologizing. But we also realized that it’s really hard to hold all of the guidelines in your head at once. So we teamed up with web guru Gordy to build a website that can help anyone write better apologies.
It starts simply enough. You write the name of the person you’re saying sorry to.
It gets harder when you must describe the events that took place by only recounting actions that a camera could have recorded — not intentions.
Then you have to promise to change your behavior. It’s not a true apology unless you intend to make a concerted effort to be different in the future.
The final step is editing: removing your ego, your burdensome emotions, and your requests.
What you end up with is a heartfelt, matter-of-fact, soothing gift. A true “sorry” that asks nothing in return.
Not all immersive experiences require headsets
We’re a human-centered storytelling studio. We focus on VR/AR/MR, but at our core, we’re medium-agnostic.
Our north star is crafting experiences that shift people’s perceptions and behaviors.
When we realized just how emotional an experience it was to give a truly heartfelt apology, we knew we had to build iwanttosaysorry.com. Real physiological changes arise when we own our faults, take responsibility for our mess-ups, and vow to be better in the future — without asking for anything in return. Saying sorry is a bodily experience. A good apology can be a more powerful healer than any other gift. And the personal journey to craft a good apology can be more moving than any narrative in any medium.
When you distill it down, an apology is a story.
A story with context, character, tension, and resolution.
A story about what you did to someone else.
This story is yours. We just built a tool to help you tell it.
We hope you use it to make your world a little more loving.