Peace becomes expensive when you keep giving discounts to people who disturb it.

Every time you make an exception for someone who disturbs your calm, the price of that calm goes up, because you now have to rebuild it more often and from further down. The exceptions feel small individually and they compound. Eventually peace becomes something you rarely have rather than something you maintain.

Look at who most reliably costs you your evening. Then stop making the exception once and see what actually happens. The consequence is usually far smaller than the anticipation of it.