Leaving a group that’s heading the wrong way feels like losing everyone. It’s actually finding you.

When a group has been your whole social weather, stepping back from it feels less like a decision and more like vanishing. Part of that is real, because the easy plans and the inside jokes do go. What also goes is the version of you that was shaped to fit, and that version was never the whole of you. The size of the fear tends to match how much you had folded away.

You do not have to walk out of anything this week. Just notice the moments you go quiet to stay in step, and count them. A long count is worth knowing before you decide anything.