Being left on read feels loud, but it’s just silence. Don’t fill it with the worst possible story.

Silence carries no information, which is exactly why it is unbearable. Your mind treats the blank space as a message and writes the cruelest possible version, usually about what you are worth. The real reasons are almost always boring: a dead battery, a shift, a message opened while walking. Being uncertain is uncomfortable, but it is not the same as being rejected.

When the gap starts filling with a story, name it as a guess rather than news. Put the phone somewhere else and give the actual answer a day to arrive.