You’re not stuck. You’re changing lanes.

Loneliness rarely arrives with an announcement.

It doesn’t tap you on the shoulder and say, “Right, this is it.”

It’s more subtle than that.

You wake up one morning and realise there’s no one you’d text without a reason.

No easy call.

No standing lunch.

No default person outside your immediate household.

Nothing dramatic happened.

No falling out.

No big mistake.

Just… distance.

And the first place your mind goes is inward.

What’s wrong with me?

Did I miss something?

How did everyone else manage this and I didn’t?

This is the part where a lot of men quietly turn the blame on themselves.

They shouldn’t.

Because for many, this isn’t a personal failing at all. It’s what happens when the scaffolding comes down.