I have a couple of older relatives who only communicate via phone call and I hate talking on the phone. My other relatives don't stay in contact as often as I do, so I feel bad not reaching out and keeping them company.
Do you have any strategies to manage the energy drain from phone calls?
I just don't answer and always have my phone on silent. If someone actually has something important to say they will send a message. I have lost my feelbads for doing the mandatory phone calls long ago after I started doing this.
But, my older relatives who always called are all long gone now, I did talk to them on the phone, but not always. My go-to was saying I was busy and calling back at a time that felt more ok for me so I could mentally prepare for it.
And I have told them that I don't like talking on the phone, that I would rather talk to them in person.
I also have to do a lot of calls at work. I hate it, but I try to schedule them for days when I have space and bandwidth for them and I do them all in one go after a fair amount of procrastination. The workmates who love calling I condition to not doing that by never answering them the first time and pretending I was busy, they too send a message if it's actually important.