rationalizing...
For one, it is a totally energy-sapping activity and gets us nowhere - the amount of energy we use, brain power we expend, and thinking we do to get around something or explain away something could have been put to better use - we could have forged ahead, instead...maybe taken a different path...maybe just taken time off...
And for another, it really doesn't solve the issue. We just end up going round and round in circles trying to explain something to ourselves and to those around us, and see that not only have we got ourselves entangled in a web, but we've also ended up in the same spot we started out from, not having resolved anything.
Better would be to walk away...
For, if something was really important, we would not need to rationalize it.