Picking up the phone for the call you dread is scarier than letting it ring. It’s also how things get settled.

Avoidance does not remove the bad five minutes. It stretches them out into a week of low dread that follows you into practice and into bed, and the situation does not quietly resolve while you wait. It usually hardens. The ringing phone feels like the dangerous object, but the real cost is sitting in the days you spend not picking it up.

Pick a time today, not a vague later, and make the call then. Write your first sentence down so your voice has somewhere to start. Then let the conversation be as short as it wants to be.