Via Diary of a CEO and Chris Williamson

“The ‘Lonely Chapter’ describes a time in your life where you’re so developed that you can’t really resonate with your old set of friends, but you’re not yet sufficiently developed that you’ve built a new set of friends.

For example, “you have decided to stop drinking for 6 months. You can [still] go out with your friends that want to go to the pub on an evening time, but you feel a little bit ostracized. They’re having digs at you and jibes at you. ‘Oh, come on, mate. Only one beer. Who do you think you are?’

So your change is creating some friction between you and them.”

— Chris Williamson: If You Don’t Fix This Now, 2026 Is Already Over, at 1:41:14

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The Lonely Chapter describes the painful transition period where you’ve outgrown your old friend group but haven’t yet found your new tribe. “You’re so developed that you can’t really resonate with your old set of friends, but you’re not yet sufficiently developed that you’ve built a new set of friends,” Chris Williamson explains. This isn’t a sign you’re doing something wrong—it’s proof you’re growing.

Examples of how you may experience the Lonely Chapter:

• Language drift: You and your old friends literally stop speaking the same dialect as your interests diverge
• Value conflicts: Your decision to stop drinking or start going to the gym creates friction with friends who don’t share those goals
• Perpetual doubt: Unlike ‘hero’s journey’ stories where conviction never wavers, real growth is “steeped in doubt and self-pity and uncertainty”
• No glory guarantee: There’s not even a promise that anything good awaits on the other side

The radical truth Chris shares is that “your entire journey of personal growth is just steeped in doubt and self-pity and uncertainty.” This isn’t sexy or cool—it’s why most people retreat to old patterns.

Understanding that this discomfort is supposed to be there helps you endure it rather than interpreting it as evidence that you should quit.