cms -- I relate very well to what you posted. I've apologized to people -- had grueling anxiety, say, over a weekend about what I said to a coworker on a Friday -- and we I start, she doesn't even know what I'm talking about. She's moved on, I haven't

I recognize how this developed in me:

My parents drank and fought a lot. My mother was also fairly capricious with her anger -- I never knew if I'd come home from school and get yelled at for something, my mother storing up her irritation all day. So I learned early about apologizing to keep the peace.

I've even apologized to friends and coworkers who were angry -- when I didn't think they deserved an apology -- to keep the peace.

Alcoholics and co-deps call it people pleasing.