A no stings for a day. Never asking can keep you up for ten years.

The arithmetic of asking is lopsided and almost nobody runs it. One awkward conversation and a bruised evening sit on one side; on the other is an open question that resurfaces for a decade. Avoiding the small pain is how people end up carrying the larger one.

Make a list of the asks you have been postponing and do the oldest one this week. Accept that it may well be a no. The relief of a settled question is worth more than the comfort of an open one.