Hard conversations are like dentist appointments. Skip them and the bill gets bigger.

Avoidance feels like nothing is happening and is actually a decision whose cost compounds. Resentment grows, the other person builds their own story about why you have gone quiet, and the conversation you eventually have covers six things instead of one. Early it is small and awkward. Late it is large and expensive, and the delay is the reason.

Name the one you have been putting off, then pick a time in the next three days. Open with the specific thing rather than a wind-up. Fifteen minutes now is the cheapest this will ever be.