Grace sounds soft until you try giving it to the person who embarrassed you.

Mercy is easy to admire in the abstract and expensive in practice. The idea costs nothing until there is a face attached, and the costliest face is the one tied to your humiliation. Embarrassment keeps a grudge alive longer than real injury does, because it ties someone to how you looked. Refusing to collect on that is hard work, not a soft option.

Name the person you have been avoiding since something made you look foolish. You do not owe them a conversation about it. Try one normal interaction this week, a nod in the hallway or a question about something else, and see whether anything loosens.