An eccentric person, Dana Pena, says You should never be sorry(here). That somehow sent Me on a bad-trip. In case the video is missing, the message is that first You take word “sorry” from Your vocabulary, and then the feeling of “guilt” will eliminate itself.
At first came up some pseudo research here, with link to synonyms and antonyms dictionaries, that suppose to be proving that language is biased towards blaming self or other people, rather than praising.
That lead to actually agreeing with “positive-thinking” and “dream big” gurus, which is no doubt unacceptable. Because most of them sell courses/books on how to “do something”.
Then I slipped into “participation trophy” as a form of praising people, that I used to hate, because it is “bad”. And could not remember any bullets on why it is bad.
Btw, heard a lot of stories, that locals (Montenegrians) are used to praise their kids and almost never shout, it is mostly “Bravo, Bravo”. Which I witnessed here, and some straight beating(metaphorically speaking), when “bravo” is not working.
when given - take
when beaten - run
– Russian set expression
Have no better resolution right now.