One day years ago, I took an important client to a lunch at a restaurant where I held almost all of my meetings. The food was great, the staff stupendous and, lucky for me, it was located in the same building as my home and office which were lofts on two different floors. 

The restaurant was one of those special Italian places that immediately upon being seated, would place hot bread, peppers and fried zucchini on the table, so you could nibble while you perused the menu. 

My client asked if the peppers were spicy hot. Having eaten in the restaurant more times than I could count, I confidently said: Nope. They’re sweet and delicious.

A few big bites later, he was loosening his collar as he broke into a profuse sweat. I was mortified. There was no cooling him off and his pale skin turned a deep purple.

I immediately started to talk too much. I was apologizing for the peppers. It had snowed earlier that day and I remember asking if he wanted to take a walk outside in the cold to cool off. I felt like an idiot and thought that he must have thought that I had an evil streak.

Thankfully, while still sweating, he started to laugh. Probably a bit from embarrassment, but at least he was finding humor in the situation. I learned three great lessons that day:  1) Just because you’ve met 100 peppers in the past, don’t assume you know anything about the next one you’ll meet. 2) Finding the humor in a stressful situation is a priceless gift you give to yourself and others. 3) Glitches don’t mean endings. Sometimes they’re just glitches. That client forgave me and stuck with me for years…although he never let me forget the day I made him sweat!

Silver Disobedience® philosophy believes all healthy relationships begin with self-awareness. I’m @DianGriesel aka @SilverDisobedience ✨ I am a Perception Analyst and I wrote The Silver Disobedience Playbook. Here, I share my Daily Meditations for other Ageless, Passionate & Curious People.  More info in my bio and on my websites