The ocean pulls back before it returns. Stepping back from an argument isn’t losing it.

Withdrawal is not the same as defeat. Water draws back before it comes in again, and the pulling back is part of the motion rather than a retreat, which is a useful way to think about walking out of an argument. Leaving the room does not concede the point. It usually just means you have run out of the patience required to make it well.

Next time a disagreement starts getting fast, say you want to come back to it and then actually come back. Within a day, with the same subject, when both of you can hear.