You haven't said it out loud
Until it is only in your head, it is not out — and in the head you can negotiate forever.
A thing said out loud to another person behaves differently than the same thing thought. It stops being flexible. That is why we do not want to say it — and why something usually moves when we do. It is not confession and it is not about having an audience. One living person is enough, the one you tell the whole thing, including the part you skip.
A question from Seth
What have you known for months and not told a single living person? Who would you tell first?