Now...or later?

When there are identity issues at play in conflict, and when an expressed view is really hard to handle, it is very legitimate, wise, even, to request a break. Re-centering, re-casting your compassionate curiosity in an environment of fear and anxiety, is tough. 

It is also critical to take the shortest break possible, the most brief time when you can reasonably process what is transpiring in a way that you can re-enter the conflict conversation with good balance. Asking for 10 minutes is right there for you; asking for 10 hours, 10 days, or more is not necessarily a healthy or helpful request (let alone demand). 

Gathering your sense of caring for all--including yourself--and then resuming dialog across difference is adaptive and can avoid a jumbled trainwreck of ineffective reactions to challenging information, ideas, assertions, or conclusions.