Speaking up is powerful because you chose it. Staying quiet is powerful for the same reason.

Power lives in the choosing, not in the volume. Speaking because you decided to is strong; speaking because you cannot stand a silence is noise that arrived on time. It runs the same the other direction, since quiet you picked and quiet you fell into look identical from outside and feel nothing alike from inside.

In the next tense conversation, notice which one you are doing. If you are about to talk, know what you want it to do. If you are staying out of it, be able to say why. Either is fine as long as it was a decision.