Alexandra's online post was viewed over 17.7 million times and received more than 184.1 thousand comments
We were curious about what inspired Alexandra to make the post in the first place and whether she expected such a huge response to it. She told Bored Panda that the internet's response was a complete surprise.
"Honestly. It was a random post that I thought would maybe get my normal 300-view range. I did not expect it to get that much attention," she said.
"I already had a few comments that I knew someone would say. Like the 'idk what you want me to say.' I think it was just something a lot of people related to with men having a hard time expressing emotions and feelings," Alexandra told us.
We asked Alexandra for her perspective on what lies at the core of a proper apology. She was happy to share her thoughts on this.
"While saying 'sorry' is sometimes hard, I feel that a true apology is acknowledging that someone feels the way they do," she opened up to Bored Panda.
"You don’t always have to understand why someone may feel a certain way. You can say 'sorry' without downplaying or neglecting someone’s feelings just because you don’t understand why."
Alexandra also urged everyone to "always be kind," no matter what.
It would be an understatement to say that Alexandra’s post was popular. It was a huge success and literally reached millions of people around the globe. It just goes to show how much a relatable topic with room for humor really resonates with people.
At the time of writing, her post was viewed 17.7 million times on TikTok. What’s more, it got more than 1.9 million likes and 184.1 thousand comments. Bored Panda has reached out to Alexandra via Instagram for further comment about the popularity of her post, and we’ll update the article as soon as we hear back from her.
The Harvard Medical School notes that it’s still important to apologize when you’ve hurt or angered someone, even if you don’t believe what you said or did was bad. The same goes for situations where you believe you’re fully in the right and the other person is completely in the wrong: an apology can go a long way.
It’s also important to let go of your ideas about who’s right and wrong in the situation and to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Understanding another person’s experiences is a core part of emotional intelligence, which, in turn, lies at the foundation of healthy and productive relationships.
Naturally, an apology doesn’t really matter if it’s not genuine. If you don’t mean it, why bother saying ‘sorry’ at all? When your apology is genuine, not only do you acknowledge your responsibility for your actions, but you also validate the other person’s (hurt) feelings.
In short, a real apology shows not only that you’re sorry and that you care about the other individual but that you’re also going to make amends and avoid similar mistakes in the future.
Psychiatrist and apology expert Dr. Aaron Lazare explained that good apologies have four elements.
First, you have to acknowledge the offense and confirm that your behavior was unacceptable. One potential pitfall to avoid here is the use of vague or evasive language. You should not word your apology in a way that minimizes your offense or the victim’s level of hurt.
Secondly, you should take the time to explain exactly what happened. However, you have to balance things delicately here. You want to offer an explanation without seeming like you’re excusing your behavior.
With that in mind, the Harvard Medical School points out that sometimes the best strategy is to say that “there is no excuse.”
The third element of a truly good apology is to express remorse. In short, if you really regret your decision and feel ashamed, you should speak up. The last element is offering to make amends.
This is fairly straightforward if you’ve physically damaged someone’s things or property; you offer to pay to get it repaired or replace the item. However, when you’ve hurt someone’s feelings, you should acknowledge the pain they felt while promising to do better moving forward.
