Halfway through a meeting, I wrote ask the obvious question in the margin of my notebook. I had been nodding along to a plan I did not understand because everyone else looked comfortable.
When I finally asked, three people paused. Then someone said they had been wondering the same thing.
The answer changed the timeline, but not in the catastrophic way I had imagined. It made the next step clearer.
I keep the note in my notebook now. It is a quiet reminder that confusion is not a character flaw, and speaking up can be a form of care.