The call you've been avoiding

A challenge for this week, and it is the one most people put off longest. Mend one relationship you have been avoiding.

You know which one. You knew before you finished reading the sentence. The brother you have not rung since the argument. The friend who drifted and you let them. The parent, the old colleague, the person you were unkind to when you were tired and never went back to fix it with.

The instruction is precise about how. Make the call. Say sorry for your part, only your part, and say it without a "but". And then, this is the hard bit, expect nothing back. They may not apologise for theirs. They may not pick up. They may be cold, or cheerful as if nothing happened, or cry. None of that is the exercise. The exercise is dealing with your side of it, and what they do with theirs is theirs.

Most of these calls go better than we fear, and none of them are as bad as the years of not making them. Do it this week. Before Sunday. Then tell nobody.