There are different kinds of silence.
The loud ones that press against your eardrums, where you don’t want to move because everyone else is going to stare at whoever makes the first move.
The cold ones where you’re on the phone, but you know the other person isn’t listening.
The dead ones, because you know there isn’t a response coming but you don’t want to give up.
And the warm moments of silence, when there’s no sound going over the wire, but you know the other person’s listening at the end, so you just listen to each other’s silences across the line and breathe in their presence.
Embrace the silence!
Fill the gaps in the air with the weight of your mutual presence, exchanging your silence for theirs. If you keep interrupting it with other things more tangible, the silence never has a chance to fill its place.