ohhhh... i've been in this situation more times than I care to admit.... the dreaded silence when someone says 'bye' and words do not come out from my mouth... I've ended conversations with 'ok' and 'hmmmm' leaving the other person confused as heck ... lol ok, the following is something I've started doing past year or so, and has helped a lot: when you know that you're anticipating a block, I mentally slowwwwwwwww down the time. I start speaking slower than my normal pace, slow my gaze, and imagine that I have more time to breathe and pause as needed. Initially I randomly experimented this approach in several conversations and this definitely made it much easier to overcome blocks (not just for goodbyes, but for all kinds of blocks that I used to anticipate) However, the best part is, people **do not even notice that you've slowed down**. I was concerned that I would sound weird doing this. But when I did this with my friends and family, and later asked them if I sounded weird, they said they didn't even notice that I've changed anything. This is a trick up my sleeve regularly use during my speech and it has helped regain my confidence....