Nothing changed overnight. It just stopped fitting.

Most men do not lose friends in a fight.

They lose them in stages.

No one warns you this is coming.

There’s no conversation.

No pamphlet.

No bloke at work pulling you aside and saying, by the way, this part sneaks up on you.

One day you just realise something odd.

You haven’t met anyone new in a long time.

You haven’t lost friends.

You’re not lonely in the tragic sense.

Nothing is broken.

Your world is just… quieter.

And at first, that feels good.

Why It Feels Like A Win

For most of adult life, contact is unavoidable.

You work all week with people.

You stand around at kids’ sport talking rubbish with other parents.