The awkward conversation only gets heavier the longer you carry it around.

Difficult things do not sit still while you wait for a better moment. They grow, partly because the delay itself becomes something else to explain, and partly because your imagination keeps rehearsing versions worse than the real one. The weight you are carrying is mostly anticipation, and anticipation is the part that gets heavier with time.

Pick the smallest true opening and use it soon. One sentence is enough to begin. Whatever the other person says, you will be holding less afterwards than you are holding now.