Thanks guys. I'd have freely admitted the fear a long time ago, and I knew that this was a problem, but I didn't really know why, and couldn't find the motivation for changing it (does that make sense?)
I've finally been able to start reading PM, so I am getting more sense of what's going on.
HP, thanks for saying it straight out. Somehow when you 'said' that, I finally saw the need for me to be straightforward; funny, before I felt that I was doing a 'good thing' in keeping the peace, even though I knew it was getting nowhere. Doesn't feel very good, but it does finally feel like a change.