Trust that your generous gestures are enough.
I have a lovely friend who gifted me some “surplus” homemade chocolate mousse (surplus? Not in my house). As she handed it to me, she apologized for a bit of visible whipped cream that “wasn’t supposed to be there” (I’m still not sure how whipped cream wouldn’t belong in close proximity to dessert). She went on to explain that it wasn’t completely smooth because of the bits of chocolate “grit” she leaves in because her husband likes it that way.
As she continued to justify the chocolate mousse, which truly never, ever needs justification on any planet, I realized how often we justify, explain, and apologize for things that are, at their core, absolutely fine the way they are, especially when the intent is generous.
Yet we are sometimes so sensitive to criticism that we feel we have to get out in front of it by calling attention to our errors and faults before anyone else mentions them.
I’ve done this. I imagine you have, too.
Explanations can’t possibly add to the perfection that is a gift of homemade chocolate mousse. And anyone who would criticize it lacks graciousness and gratitude, and they are NOT my people.
They do not deserve your surplus mousse.
Next time someone apologizes for an act of generosity and goodwill, so sensitive to criticism that they criticize themselves before you can, tell them about the chocolate mousse.
It was, by the way, delicious.Never Apologize for Chocolate Mousse
Trust that your generous gestures are enough.
I have a lovely friend who gifted me some “surplus” homemade chocolate mousse (surplus? Not in my house). As she handed it to me, she apologized for a bit of visible whipped cream that “wasn’t supposed to be there” (I’m still not sure how whipped cream wouldn’t belong in close proximity to dessert). She went on to explain that it wasn’t completely smooth because of the bits of chocolate “grit” she leaves in because her husband likes it that way.
As she continued to justify the chocolate mousse, which truly never, ever needs justification on any planet, I realized how often we justify, explain, and apologize for things that are, at their core, absolutely fine the way they are, especially when the intent is generous.
Yet we are sometimes so sensitive to criticism that we feel we have to get out in front of it by calling attention to our errors and faults before anyone else mentions them.
I’ve done this. I imagine you have, too.
Explanations can’t possibly add to the perfection that is a gift of homemade chocolate mousse. And anyone who would criticize it lacks graciousness and gratitude, and they are NOT my people.
They do not deserve your surplus mousse.
Next time someone apologizes for an act of generosity and goodwill, so sensitive to criticism that they criticize themselves before you can, tell them about the chocolate mousse.
It was, by the way, delicious.