I've been thinking about making this post for a few days now and how to make it a cohesive thought. I immediately felt called out by @Alan Belcher and his post about lone wolves the other day even though he doesn't know me. Being a lone wolf has personified my existence. I have struggled my entire life making and keeping friends. As I seem to operate on a wavelength most people don't understand. I grew up and still live in a rural area. I spent a lot of time alone as a child and quickly learned to be self sufficient and find peace in solitude. Even when I was in a relationship/married I found I would seclude myself. To be honest I've always felt inadequate and unworthy of friends or companionship and I don't know why. Most of the "friends" I've made have along the way have been the fair weather variety. They want to be friends when I can help them do something, but when I need help and actually ask for it and I hate asking for help. There's no one to be found. Having these feelings of unworthiness I've made the mistake of making myself overly available and overlooking things just to have a "friend". As I've gotten older I've realized this and started removing these people from my life. Wouldn't you know when I stopped contacting them, they stopped contacting me. After decades of living this way I can tell you being a lone wolf shouldn't be the goal, contrary to the current narrative. I do believe some people are meant to live a more solitary life than others and there will be times you have to leave a group of friends behind to level yourself up. And to level up you need other men to hold you accountable, to share ideas with, to confide in, to work towards a common goal with. No matter how strong you are, you can be stronger with a solid group of brothers. I've been battle tested in life as a lone wolf and I can tell you with 100% certainty that it would have been easier with a group of brothers by my side. I'm working towards breaking these feelings of inadequacy and this habit of self seclusion. It has become normal for me to be alone and that is not a path anyone needs to travel.