stop apologizing for going off on long tangents or rambling in the group chats and discords. that is self-defeating language and it associates guilt with being excited or whatever. instead you should frame it as “so uh anyway thank you for coming to my ted talk on my pokemon oc’s relationship to ethics and science whoops”. it’s funny it keeps the mood light it makes it easier to continue a conversation without the whole feeling of “do i tell them no its okay? like do i need to reassure them???” etc